What it Takes
by Flaegor
Summary: What happens when Lucy watches Natsu die, then get brought back to life with a horrifying injury? How deep will Lucy's guilt run? What will Lucy decide to do and what will Lucy's decision mean for Fairy Tail, for Team Natsu, for Natsu? Rated T for violence and will most likely stay T. Mainly Natsu x Lucy, some Erza x Jellal, Gray x Ultear and many others referenced. Hope you enjoy.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey readers! I have already written the first five chapters so two now, then one a week is guaranteed, hope you like it, it is like what you would expect from a StiCy or Lalu, but Nalu... I hope that gave enough of a description... As much as I wish I did, I do not own Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima does.**

Lucy woke up in her bed feeling refreshed after the long week of chasing a small bandit group. "Ahhhh…" she yawned while getting up and heading to her shower. After completing her morning routine of showering, choosing an outfit, grabbing an apple, she headed to the guild.

"Good morning everyone!" she announced as she passed through the guild doors. "Morning Lucy!" chirped Mira as she casually pushed a drunken body that had been sleeping on the bar out of Lucy's seat. *Thud* went Cana as she hit the floor.

"Urgh… Whach the hell Mirwa? Ohh, hey Lushy!" Cana slurred "Morning Cana! Hey Mira, can I please have a-" she was cut off by Mira placing a strawberry milkshake down on the bar. "Thanks!" grinned Lucy as she sat down. "Mira, a-" Cana started while slightly recovering and Mira cut her off by sliding a gigantic mug of beer in-front of the seat next to Lucy.

"Hehe, you're too good at this Mira!" chuckled Lucy and Cana together. They sat in silence as Lucy sipped, Cana chugged and Mira cooked for the soon to arrive starving Fairy Tail members. Mages started to file in, first Erza, then Gray, Juvia, Levy, Droy and Jet, Gajeel, and many others.

The last two to arrive, were Natsu and Happy who appeared close to lunchtime in a panic. "Listen up brats!" shouted Master Makarov from the second floor. "The S-class trials are starting in 2-weeks!" The guild immediately started an uproar.

Lucy was grabbed by Natsu and pulled towards the quest board. Without even so much as asking Lucy, Natsu grabbed a job-sheet and shoved it in Mira's face. "Gimme this job Mira!" Mira jotted down Natsu, Happy and Lucy's names in a large binder.

"Okay! All done, off you go you two!" "Why do I never count?" whined Happy miserably. "Sorry Happy! How about I give you a fish when you get back?" apologized Mira. Happy immediately started drooling and floating subconsciously towards the exit. Lucy finally managed to free herself from Natsu's grip and dusted herself off. "Well then, let's go!" cheered Lucy.

"Meet at the train station in an hour?" Lucy asked. Natsu promptly replied by turning green and throwing up on the floor. "Seriously flame-brain? All it takes is to say train?" teased Gray as he ran out of the guild with a job sheet in one hand and a blue-haired water mage latched onto the other. Natsu couldn't reply. Lucy softened when she saw Natsu in such a defenseless state.

Checking the paper, she said "It's ok Natsu, we can walk, it's only few towns away." "Really?" questioned Natsu, recovering immediately now that the threat was gone. "Yep!" "Thanks Luce!"

An hour later Lucy was patiently waiting in her apartment. Lucy started to count the seconds that Natsu was late. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5…. 1093. 1094. 1095. _Seriously, what the hell is taking him so long, it's been 20 minutes already!?_ Lucy asked herself. So to pass the time, she pulled out the job sheet that she still had.

_Skilled Mages Needed_

_Small group of powerful dark mages are threatening our town_

**_Reward: 150,000 jewels, 1 Silver Celestial Key_**

**_Location: Toushigi_**

_Please help us Fairy Tail!_

Lucy was surprised, Natsu had managed to grab a quest that had a key as a reward. Although, the chances of him doing that on purpose were low, Lucy thought. "Lucy!" "Natsu!" Lucy exclaimed then sighed, "Why are you always so late?"

"Sorry Luce," Natsu replied guiltily, "I got attacked by a few bears on my way here!" Lucy sweat-dropped that he could say that so casually. "Oh, that explained all the cuts you have. Where is Happy?" "Happy always goes to say goodbye to Carla whenever he leaves for a mission. I wonder why?" Natsu said obliviously. Lucy face palmed. "Anyway, let's go!"

**Timeskip: Walking into Toushigi, 8 hours of walking later**

"Ne, Natsu. Who is the quest giver?" "Umm... Ohh… That person… I dunno… You usually do this stuff…" "Baka Natsu, why didn't you ask Mira?" They bickered as they walked down the main street. It was just after sundown and Lucy was starting to get nervous.

"Natsu?" "Hm?" "Should we find an inn or something?" asked Lucy. "Sure, why not?" replied Natsu. They found a medium quality hotel for them to stay in called Moonview. "Hello! How may I help you today?" the receptionist asked.

"Could we please have a room for one night?" requested Lucy. "Sure," the receptionist ducked underneath the desk and popped back up holding a key and a pamphlet "10,000 jewels please." He said sliding the key and pamphlet to Lucy.

Lucy paid for the room and took a moment to look at the pamphlet she was given. "Um, sorry, but how many bed are there?" "Only one, why do you ask?" At this response Lucy blushed and said "We aren't a couple. Just job partners."

"Oh, sorry, I'll change to room for you now." He took the key back and have Lucy a different one. "Sorry, but that is an extra 5,000 jewels." "Ok, here you are." Lucy passed the said amount to the man. "Are you two mages?"

"Yep, we are Fairy Tail mages!" Natsu finally added to the conversation. ***Ring Ring*** went the office phone. As the receptionist went to pick it up he said "Please enjoy your stay here." Lucy and Natsu went to the room number on the key and entered.

It was a simple hotel set-up. Two single bed on one side of the room, a medium-sized viewing Lacrima on the other side and a bathroom near the entrance and a balcony opposite the entrance. "This one's mine!" Lucy shouted running towards the bed closest to the window.

**30 minutes later**

"Goodnight Natsu." whispered Lucy, knowing that Natsu could hear her with his sensitive hearing. "Goodnight Lucy." Natsu replied slightly louder but still softly. Lucy had always had relatively good hearing so he knew that he could talk that softly.

**1 hour earlier at the guild.**

"Goodnight everyone!" "Night Mira!" was her response as the guild trickled from the hall. "Mirajane, come to my office." Master announced. Mira walked up the stairs and entered his office. "What is it Master?"

"Do you still have that Toushigi quest?" "Nope!" replied Mira cheerfully. "Who took it?" questioned the Fairy Tail master clasping his hands as if in a prayer. "Natsu, Lucy and Happy. Why?" Mira chirped. The wizard saint stiffened with shock. "That mission has been removed from the guild quest boards, it has been deemed too dangerous for guilds and will only be available to wizard saints."

Mira paled at his answer then jumped into action. "Master, I will contact Erza, Levy, Gajeel, Cana, and Wendy. They are all still in Magnolia so they can help." "Good thinking Mira, I will contact Laxus, Gildarts, Freed, Bixlow, Evergreen and Elfman tell them to meet here in 10 minutes."

**20 Minutes later (About when Lucy and Natsu were booking a room)**

3 magic 4-wheelers were thundering along through Magnolia's streets, one significantly faster than the others. At the front of the speeding vehicle was Erza. Erza's mind was in complete disarray.

_Wizard Saints… Dangerous Dark Mages… Lucy… Little Sister… Danger… Could die… _These horrifying thoughts bounced through her head making her drive even faster. "Erza! Slowing down is a man!" yelled Elfman from the back.

"Shut up you stupid idiot." Screamed Evergreen over the roar of the 4-wheeler. Bixlow and Freed looked at the two bickering and snickered. Freed looked at Laxus and asked, "Don't they just look perfect together?"

Laxus didn't reply, he was sitting silently with a thin sheen of sweat covering his forehead. "I'm so sorry Laxus!" Freed practically cried, "I forgot to write the runes!" He proceeded to write runes to counter his motion sickness.

**50 minutes later in Lucy and Natsu's hotel (10 minutes after Lucy and Natsu had said their goodnights)**

Natsu sat up slowly so as to not wake Happy. He eased his way out of his covers so as to get to Lucy's bed. His feet hit the floor softly and he stood up. He was half-way between his bed and Lucy's when he saw something move in his peripheral vision.

His head whipped around, almost giving himself whiplash. What he saw was the shadows take the shape of three humanoid bodies and launch themselves at him. This all happened so quickly that he didn't have time to raise his hands before something collided with his head and sent him flying across the room. Lucy shot up.

She had secretly been awake and waiting for Natsu to climb into her bed. She found that she slept much more peacefully when he was with her, not that she would ever admit it to anyone. When Natsu's body hit the wall with a crash she quickly shot up and reached for her keys.

Before she could reach them the three shadowy figures attacked, one going to Natsu, one going for Lucy and one for Happy. Lucy's hands grasped her keys but before she could move anymore, she was blasted back into the same wall as Natsu.

Before she even hit the floor, she noted that her body was paralyzed. Happy hit the wall next to her in the same state. Natsu pulled himself out of the wall, he glared at the three mages. He jumped forwards "Iron fist of the fire dragon!" he yelled as he sped towards the three figures. One put up their hand and a large stream of darkness extinguished Natsu's fire.

There was a flash of fire and Natsu fell out of the dark torrent, bleeding all over and coughing blood. He glared at the three mages "Roar of the Fire Dragon!" fire gushed from Natsu's mouth, more and more collecting until it was almost as wide as the room.

Then, it disappeared, along with Natsu's magic power. Natsu gasped at the sudden loss of his magic, falling to his hands and knees. One of shadowed mages ran forwards, slamming their knee into Natsu's face. Lucy started screaming as Natsu was thrown around their room, while Happy was watching in soundless terror.

Natsu's body getting more and more bloodied as her screaming reached new pitches. "No, no, no, NO PLEASE, NO MORE, HURT ME, NOT HIM! PLEASE!" she couldn't move, she couldn't cry she could only scream and watch.

Before long her throat started to feel like sandpaper was being rubbed on the inside of it. All three enemy mages started hitting Natsu, who was still trying to stand and fight, even though he was out of magic, his body was covered in blood and almost all his bones were broken.

Then something happened which made Lucy release her worse scream yet. One of the mages shaped the nearby shadows into a menacing looking, pulsating sword and stabbed Natsu through the stomach. "NOOO NATS-." She felt blood on the inside of her throat, she tried to lean forward to cough it up but, being paralyzed, she couldn't.

She started to choke on her own blood. Natsu lost consciousness at the same time as Lucy, Natsu because of blood-loss, Lucy because of lack of oxygen. Just Happy was still conscious and retreating into his mind in a state of traumatic shock. _No, no, please, this cannot be happening, I want to tease Lucy more, I want to go fishing with Natsu, I want to go back to Carla, I want to get that fish Mira promised, this cannot be real, Lucy can't die, it's not possible, and Natsu, no, I don't even want to think about that, there is no way._

The poor exceed was about to lose consciousness as well when a large explosion wrecked the wall. Erza stood there in fit of rage. "REQUIP! ARMADURA FAIRY!" she screamed when she saw Lucy's chin and mouth covered in blood and her lifeless eyes, Happy staring blankly at her and Natsu lying face-down on the ground in a pool of blood, his blood.

A light engulfed the room, so intense that the shadows fled from her, that the dark mages cowered. This amour was normally powered by her love, her love for her family, her guild, her love for her Nakama. But when she saw three of her most precious family members dead or dying, the armor changed, it was blood red, not pink.

The bright golden light in the room changed to a dangerous red. The color of Erza's hair. People in the village remembered that night for the rest of their life the screams, the flashes of light, the blood that went to the air, the explosions caused by a certain, enraged fairy.

"STOP!" screamed a young voice. Wendy was standing at the hole in the wall looking horrified, "Erza! They are already dead! STOP! I need to heal Natsu-san and Lucy-san!" she then rushed into the room, many other Fairy Tail members looked at her, amazed by her bravery.

Telling Erza to stop was one thing, rushing into the room where Erza was fighting was another, but running in between this enraged Erza and the scraps of these Dark mages was something on a different level. Many admired her courage.

Wendy looked at Natsu and Lucy in horror. Then something came over her. She screamed in a different voice, the voice of Grandeeney, "Sky Dragon's Ultimate Healing! Sky's Life!" A bright blue light blinded everyone at the scene. The blood in Lucy's throat disappeared and her heart started again.

The blood around Natsu started leaving its drying state, and flowing back into Natsu as fresh blood. The mental prison of Happy's his mind broke apart and the exceed felt something push him out. All at the same time, Natsu convulsed and flipped onto his side, Lucy gasped and fell forward, and Happy started crying. "T-thank goodness." Wendy said weakly before falling forward. "I-I'm all out of Magic." Gasped Wendy before her consciousness left her.

**So how was it? Please no hating, I would love constructive criticism and grammar correcting, but please no hating. This is my first Fanfic.**


	2. Chapter 2

**And here is Chapter 2. This is 3,300-ish words when the first chapter was only like 2,400. The chapters get even longer further in... I don't own Fairy Tail, in my dreams I do, but not in real life :C **

**2 and a bit weeks after Lucy, Natsu and Happy took the quest to Toushigi**

"Urgghh…" Lucy moaned. When her eyes refused to open she started to panic, thrashing around in whatever contained her. "Lucy! Lucy! Calm down! You're safe!" a familiar voice cried.

Lucy stop squirming enough to use her other senses, she could hear the sound of chinking classes and shouting, she could smell alcohol, warm food, detergent and blood. She could feel a soft surface underneath her, something crisp covering her and a smooth hand holding hers.

"Loki?" she croaked. "Princess!" he cheered, reverting back to his normal name for her, "You're finally awake!" Lucy slowly tried to open her eyes again, and this time succeeding. Her vision blurry, she looked upwards at the ceiling above her, then at her surroundings.

She was in the guild infirmary with Loki looking in her eyes with his worried ones. "W-why?" Lucy rasped, wonder why her voice sounded like it hadn't been used in months. "I-I-I'm so sorry Lucy, I wasn't able to protect you went it mattered most. I am a failure."

"I will never, ever put my personal feelings in front of your protection again." Loki broke down sobbing onto Lucy's belly. Lucy gasped as all the memories of that night came back to her. She lurched and threw up over the side of the bed. "Natsu?" she vomited a bit more.

Loki got the meaning of the question and pointed over to another one of the beds. As if on cue, the pink-haired dragon-slayer that was occupying the bed took a huge, shuddering breath in. "He- he's alive?" Lucy questioned in a shaky voice, not daring to believe what she saw.

"Yes, Wendy saved the two of you. She used so much magic that she is still asleep in that bed over there." Loki gestured towards another of the beds, which had a mass of blue hair spilling over the pillow and a small white exceed curled up protectively on the sky maiden's flat chest.

Lucy couldn't find it in herself to keep her heavy eyelids open any longer and let them close. She fell back onto her pillows and drifted into a dreamless sleep. Loki let go of her hands, stood up and walked over to Natsu. Loki found it strange that, even though he had expected himself to think less of the pink-haired dragon-slayer for being unable to save Lucy from harm, he found himself having no hard feelings for Natsu.

Loki figured that the reason he might be unable to dislike Natsu was either because he despised himself too much or because Natsu had actually died trying. Loki thought it was most likely because he despised himself just too much to hate anyone else.

He had let himself get too distracted while on his date with Aries (having finally picked up the courage to ask her out) to sense the slight pull in his heart. He had dismissed it and it had cost Lucy her life.

For some reason, fate had been kind enough to give him a second chance, and he knew that even if it meant breaking up with his new girlfriend, being exiled from the spirit world again, being hated by every being possible of such a feeling, even being hated by Lucy, he would not let himself waste his second chance. "Natsu, are you awake?"

Loki asked the man lying on the white-sheeted bed. Loki saw Natsu's eyes flicker open and squint into his. Loki saw the man's eyes open fully, then look away in shame. Loki knew what he was about and said "Lucy is alive, Wendy saved you both." When Natsu's head snapped back to him, Loki would never forget the relief, happiness and gratitude that filled his eyes.

Natsu was not normally one for tears, so the tears of relief that flowed down his face showed to Loki the depth of the feelings he reserved for Lucy. Natsu's mouth opened to speak but now sound came out, just a small wheezing sound. Natsu's eyes opened even further in horror. Loki shot up and ran out of the infirmary, slamming the door behind him.

The parting and tipsy guild members looked at Loki in surprise. "WHERE IS PORLYUSICA?" Loki roared, living up to his title as a lion. The mages that filled the hall looked at him in surprise, Loki rarely lost his cool like such.

"What is the meaning of this?" Erza questioned, looking up from her strawberry cake. "DON'T QUESTION ME! WHERE IS SHE!" Loki screamed. Erza sensed the fear coming from Loki and curtly replied "In Master's office, but first you need to put you in your place."

But Loki didn't hear. He was already bursting through the doors of the Master's office by the time she had finished her sentence. "Natsu has lost his voice." Was all he said to the questioning looks on the healer and master's faces. Their eyes widened and Porlyusica started walking stiffly, but quickly towards the infirmary.

~FLASHBACK~

Loki, Porlyusica, and Makarov stood in between the unconscious figures of Natsu and Lucy. "There." Porlyusica announced as she straightened up from Natsu's bed holding an empty potion bottle in hand. "Now all we have to worry about is if he wakes up without a voice."

"Why?" Loki questioned. Porlyusica glared at him and muttered under her breath something along the lines of "stupid humans, spirits, all stupid" before answering with, "A Dragon's pride is their roar, the loader the roar, the more powerful and more likely to mate a dragon is. A dragons power and their mate are its pride, so the louder the roar, the prouder the dragon."

"So imagine what would happen if they lost their voice, not to mention, if a dragon loses their voice, they lose it for eternity." Loki and Makarov gasped but the healer continued.

"And imagine what your blonde friend here would do when her best friend, partner and secret crush loses his pride and his personality changes completely. The worst outcome will be if she thinks it is her fault."

~END FLASHBACK~

"It is true. His voice is truly lost." Porlyusica announced to Loki, Makarov and Natsu himself. All their eyes fully opened in horror. Natsu curled up into a fetal position with tears streaming from his face, he tried to pull the covers up and over his head to save himself from even more humility.

But when he tried, his head snapped back with his mouth open in a silent scream of pain as his wound re-opened. Porlyusica wasted no time in hitting Natsu sharply over the head, knocking him unconscious painlessly.

She then reached into her pouch and walked over to her already set-up alchemists table and started to make a painkiller potion. As soon as she sat down someone shot up. Wendy was sitting in her bed crying, looking at Natsu with horror as Gajeel and Laxus practically flew into the room.

"I heard." They all said at the same time with different looks on their faces. Wendy's held regret and horror, Gajeel's held sorrow and pity, and Laxus's held guilt and shock. The Master and Loki tore their teary eyes from the grieving dragon-slayer to the emotion filled faces of his kind.

Laxus left to make an announcement to the guild, stepping up to the responsibility of guild master while his grandfather grieved, and Gajeel walked over to Natsu with more feelings in his face than anyone had seen him with before. Wendy however, jumped out of her bed with her hands already blue with a healing light.

When her feet hit the floor, she wobbled dangerously. Wendy persisted with her uncertain steps until Loki got his hands under her arms and helped her over to Natsu. Wendy gave Loki a thankful glance before reaching over to Natsu.

Wendy started and Natsu's body glowed with a light blue light. While the Master, Loki, and Gajeel looked at Wendy healing Natsu, Porlyusica was preparing a potion to help with the healing. The room was relatively quiet until they heard the uproar from outside the door, then a crack of thunder, and then silence.

Everyone in the room knew what was going on outside and knew the amount of people that would be currently trying to get into the room. Master knew that out of all the people, Lisanna, Happy, Erza and Gray would be trying to get into the room the hardest, and he made a mental note to thank Laxus later.

"No, no no no no no no no." a horrified voice murmured from behind the contingent that was standing next to Natsu's bed. Loki was the first to reach the speaker's side. "Lucy! You're awake! You shouldn't be sitting, you should lie down."

"No no no no no no no, it's all my fault, all mine, mine, my fault, MINE!" she ended with a scream that reached even the deepest depths of the hearts of the surrounding people. It was a scream that showed Lucy's true feelings for Natsu, her feelings for her partner, her best friend, her crush.

If Lucy thought she had felt pain when she lost her mother, that was nothing compared to this feeling, Natsu had been condemned to a life of pain, humiliation, and suffering and she believed that it was all her fault. Lucy's world then went black.

Loki growled at Porlyusica for hitting the very person he had vowed to protect, "How dare y-," "Shut up, she felt nothing. Now leave, everyone but Wendy. Wendy, we have work to do."

**2 Hours later**

Loki hadn't left the door frame since he had been pushed out of the infirmary. It was as if his back was glued to the frame, he refused all food, he refused to go back to the spirit world, he refused any help or any encouraging words.

The doors opened and for the first time in 2 hours Loki moved. He jumped up to see Porlyusica glaring at him for his sudden movement. "Loki, Makarov, Laxus, Gajeel, Happy and Levy, you may enter." declared Porlyusica to the guild.

Said people jumped up and headed into the room, while some others started to yell out questioning why they weren't allowed. However, those questions soon stopped when the old healer sent out a death glare equal to that of Erza and Mirajane combined.

She turned on her heel and followed the 6 others back into the infirmary. "Lu-chan!" Levy threw herself towards Lucy who was awake and wallowing in her own depression. Lucy looked up and, shocking Levy, turned away so her back was to Levy. "Lu-chan?" questioned Levy.

"I'm so sorry, I so weak, I can never protect anyone. People have risked their life for me but what happens when I need to save them? I was too weak." Lucy sobbed. "No-one thinks that Lu-chan! Don't let yourself think that!" attempted Levy.

"Please, just leave me alone, I am too weak for you." Lucy was now full on crying. "Lucy!" Levy snapped. Lucy turned with shock on her face at Levy calling her by her full name. Levy was crying to.

"Please Lu-chan, don't think that way," pleaded Levy now that she had her best friend's attention, Levy stepped forward and hugged Lucy tightly. "I'm sure Natsu will be fine."

Lucy hiccupped and calmed down slightly. "Do you really think so?" asked Lucy. Deep down Levy knew she was lying to Lucy, Gajeel would never lie about something as important as Dragon's forever losing their voice but, for the first time, she lied to her friend and said, "Yeah! It's Natsu after all!"

It almost broke Levy's heart when Lucy smiled a smile so full of hope, giving her friend false hope was harder than she imagined. _I have to be strong for Natsu,_ Lucy thought, _I have to help him recover._ "How long were we asleep for anyway?" Lucy asked in a slightly stronger voice.

"A bit more than two weeks." Levy replied. Lucy's eyes widened with shock, "Di-did we miss the S-class trials?" "I'm sorry Lu-chan, but the winner was Gajeel! And he finally asked me out!" Levy said excitedly, hoping to cheer her friend up. This had the opposite effect on Lucy, she started crying again, even harder than before.

"L-Lu-chan! It's ok, it's ok! You should be proud! You were on the list this year! It was Gajeel, Gray, Cana, Fried, You, Natsu, Wendy and Me! Although you and Natsu dropped out because you were injured and asleep, Wendy did as well because she was asleep as well. And Gray dropped out to because he said that it would feel right unless he beat Natsu there." Levy said while rocking Lucy back and forward. If Levy was being her normal self, she would have avoided saying those things, but seen her best friend in such a state made her blab out anything, hoping that something would cheer her up. The complete opposite happened.

Lucy went from crying to a state of shock, frozen in Levy's arms. Lucy didn't notice Levy waving her hand in front of her face, all she was capable of feeling was guilt, an all-consuming guilt. Levy had a guess on what Lucy was feeling and took out her solid script pen and quickly wrote "Dreamless Sleep" over Lucy.

Lucy woke up in the same bed as before. The moonlight was shining through the curtains that were above her bed. While she stared at one of the moon's beams, her memories of earlier coming back to her, slowly, painfully, one after another.

When she got to the memory of asking Levy about the S-class trials, all that was going through the Blonde's mind was, _Oh god, what have I done, Natsu, Gray, I know how much you two want to be S-class, and I destroyed your chances, Natsu's forever, all my fault, no, this can't be happening, it's all my fault. _Her mind went on and on with such thoughts for the next 30 minutes or so, then she reached a decision.

She slowly got up, gasping at the pain in her throat. She struggled through the powerful feeling and stood up. Sweating profusely she looked around. Natsu was still lying in the same bed as before with Happy sleeping next to his head, Wendy asleep in a chair next to Lucy's own bed with Carla in her lap. Lucy guessed that Wendy had been healing her but had run out of Magic Power.

_She shouldn't have bothered, I'm not worth the hassle. _Lucy thought as she slowly made her way out of the room holding her excruciatingly painful throat. She didn't notice a pink-haired fire mage try to sit up and attempt to call to her. Lucy exited painfully and made her way along the corridor to the Master's office. When she reached the door, she knocked.

"Who is it?" A voice from inside the office responded. "It's me Master." Lucy managed to rasp. There was a gasp, a clatter, a sound of papers scattering and then something hit the wood on the other side of the door. The door opened to show the masters extended hand still holding the door handle. "Lucy!" he said, with tears springing into his eyes.

"Master, I'm sorry," Lucy managed to choke out, "I have to leave." "W-w-what?" the Master spluttered, obviously not expecting Lucy to say that. "You can't mean to you want to quit Fairy Tail?!"

"No! I mean, no, please!" Lucy stressed her 'please' as if expecting to be kicked out. "I just need to train." "But why, Lucy? You are strong enough as it is!"

"NO! Please let me do this Master! It's all my fault that Natsu got hurt, all my fault that he lost his voice, all my fault that Natsu, Gray and Wendy didn't get to have a shot at being S-class, it's my fault that Wendy and Porlyusica had to spend so much time and effort, it's all my fault that everyone had to come after me and Natsu, it's MY FAULT! NATSU LOST HIMSELF BECAUSE OF ME!" she worked herself into a scream.

"Please Master, please!" she begged. The Master of Fairy Tail was shocked, he had suspected that she might feel some guilt, but not this much and not as deeply seated as this. Tears started to fall from his face as he pulled Lucy down into a hug.

"Are you sure Lucy? We could help you, I will train you personally if you stay." The Master offered, hoping with all his heart that Lucy would accept.

"No." Lucy broke down while still hugging a shocked master like her life depended on it and cried into the small man's shoulders until she composed herself again and said "Thanks you so much for the offer Master, it means a lot to me, but this is something I must do."

Seeing the tears in his "daughter's" eyes made accept her wishes, even though his heart was screaming otherwise. He knew he would mourn almost as much as when he lost his wife, but he also knew that what Lucy was feeling was much worse. He would deal with the pain, for her if nothing else.

"Please stay safe on your journey, we will never ever forget you." The master promised in a teary tone. Lucy broke down for what seemed like the millionth time that day. "Thank you for understanding, Master." Lucy choked through her tears.

They stayed like that for several minutes, a father saying goodbye to one of his favorite daughters. Lucy pulled out of the hug and asked, "Master? Could I please borrow a pen and some paper? I need to write a note to everyone."

The master replied by handing Lucy what she requested, not feeling strong enough for words. For the next 15 or so minutes he watched her cry onto the paper, writing a very long note. When she was done, she handed it to the wizard saint that had been her father for over a year now.

"Please read this out when I am gone." The master nodded. The celestial mage of Fairy Tail turned and walked out of the master's office for what would most likely be the last time in many years. When Lucy had left the office, she sat down in the corridor and cried for many minutes, listening to similar sobs from the office she had just left.

When she finally stood up, she headed for the infirmary; she still needed to do two more things before she vanishes of the face of the earth for many years. Once she stepped into the pristine room she headed for Natsu. Lucy didn't know whether Natsu was awake or not because he couldn't move or speak. She leant down and placed a kiss on Natsu's check and whispered, "I'll miss you the most."

And with that she left the room, heading to her apartment where she would pack and tell her landlady what was happening, not know that she was leaving a fully awake Natsu behind. Natsu, mentally, was fully awake, he heard her wake up, gasp in pain, leave, tell master she was leaving to train, crying, writing the note, crying, entering the room, crying, saying "I'll miss you the most.", then crying.

He was raging to get out of his mental prison. He didn't care if he had lost his pride, all he wanted was to be with Lucy, that would bring him enough pride to be happy, and more importantly, to make her happy.

But she was leaving, forever. _NO, no Natsu, as soon as you can so much as move a toe, you will go after her, _Natsu thought to himself, and knowing that was true, he fell into an uneasy sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

_**So here it is, Chapter 3! I don't own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima is a goddam genius, annnddd, ummmm yeah, enjoy!**_

**5 weeks later**

"I finally made it." Lucy whispered as she saw the small valley that was once part of her family's estate. Her throat had fully healed now, however, her emotional and mental injuries were still there.

Three small mountains were covering the North, East and West sides, and the South side was covered by a thick forest with a stream running through the middle like a scar. Lucy was standing on the West hill next to a small cottage that that comprised of two bedrooms, a study, a kitchen, a living area with a generous fire-place and, possibly the thing that excited Lucy the most, a small room filled to the brim with books on magic.

Lucy walked up to the door and bent down, reaching under a small rock next to the worn welcome-mat. She pulled an Iron key out from underneath the rock and pushed it into the lock, turned and opened the door.

It had been over 14 years since someone had entered this house. The last time being 7 July, X777. Lucy could still remember that day, clear as class.

_Flashback, kind of, more like recounting a memory_

Layla, her mother, had been trying to teach Lucy about how to summon multiple spirits at once. It was as normal as any other Sunday, Lucy was woken up by her mother gently singing a song about the morning and what possibilities the day could bring.

Lucy had lain there for many minutes, listening to her mother's beautiful singing until some of the maids had come bustling in carrying two trays of food. Her mother had thanked them kindly and passed one tray to her daughter, who thanked the maids as well.

Eating the exquisite breakfast in silence while sitting on Lucy's bed was a normal thing between the two celestial mages. "Mama, what are we going to do today?" Lucy remembered asking. Her mother had replied with a kind smile, "Whatever you want to do, sweetie."

"Can you teach me some more of your pretty magic please Mama?" Lucy had asked. "Ok." Later that day, they had arrived at their normal training spot, a level area near the river that was situated inside the valley they had named Luyla valley.

They had been training when Lucy had accidently tripped, fallen into the river and splashed water all over her mother. Being in the middle of summer, this turned into a water fight, which ended by Aquarius using Layla's magic and forcing her way through the portal, threating them with a real water-fight.

Completely subdued, the two blonde mages had trudged their way to the small cottage near the top of the western hill and started the fire. They had been sitting there for quite some time when Layla suddenly gasped and jumped out of her chair, scaring the hell out of the little girl that had been dozing in her mother's lap.

"Sleep." She whispered, moving a hand over Lucy's forehead. Lucy could remember waking up in her mother's arms as they walked towards the large mansion that was their home.

Layla stumbled and fell forward, throwing Lucy out of her arms so she didn't land on her. Lucy had landed on her feet and turned to see her mother lying on the ground, not moving. She had run, screaming, into the mansion until one of the maids found her and asked her what was wrong.

Lucy had immediately run into the maid's arms and sobbed "M-Mummy is out there, lying down and not moving…" The maid had shot up from her crouch and ran outside. She soon came back in, the maid's slim frame struggling to support a limp form that was leaning on her shoulder.

The maid had been struggling up the stairs until she was stopped by a small about of weight being relieved. The maid had looked down to see a small blonde, teary figure carrying one of her mother's arms.

They had gone up the stairs until the saw a blonde man hunched over his desk. "Daddy!" Jude Heartfilia had heard his daughter cry out and he had looked up to see his wife not moving in one of his maid's arms.

He had startled the maid and his daughter by the speed in which he moved across the large room, reaching his wife in mere seconds. He had taken the unconscious woman from the shoulders of the maid and his daughter and rushed into another room where he could lie his barely breathing wife down of their bed.

"Go get one of the nurses." The normally quiet man had yelled. The maid galvanized herself into action and sped off to follow her order. 2 hours later the Nurse had informed the two remaining Heartfilias that the lady of the family had passed away.

_Back to the present_

Lucy could still remember all the tears that she had lost over the next few weeks, almost constantly crying while her father grew further and further away from her while being locked up in his office.

Lucy shook her head slightly and started cleaning the cottage vigorously; she had refused to even come near here since her mother's death, so she knew that cleaning was going to be a big task. First, she had tried to remove the layer of dust that coated everything, but while doing the living-area she saw a pair of earrings lying on one of the small coffee tables.

She remembered that those were her mother's favorite earrings and picked them up. They were simple enough, they were silver and blue rods, and once Lucy had wiped the dust off them, she could see little star constellation engravings and golden keys.

Lucy hugged them close to her chest and cried. She cried for a long time. She hadn't cried since she had left Fairy Tail, during those five weeks, she had traveled from her old home, after talking to the landlady and packing, first to Love & Lucky, her parent's old trade guild.

Then to her parents grave, and had eventually decided to come to where she was now. Not once in those five weeks did she cry. Not on the outside anyway. Lucy knew, that on the inside, she had been scattered too many times and just cried, constantly.

She let all those feelings wash over her as she hugged her mother's earrings while lying on the dusty floor of what had been her and her mother's own little training house. Lucy eventually fell asleep and Virgo popped into Earthland.

Virgo first dusted down, using a special Celestial world duster of course, one of the chairs in hope that her master wouldn't get any dustier than what she already was. Then proceeded to pick Lucy up and place her in t a comfortable armchair.

Virgo cleaned up the cottage, added a toilet and a shower, as well as ducked into the spirit world to get new sheets and a bedspread, as well as a comfortable and durable outfit for her master to train in. Capricorn and Loki had already made it clear that they were going to help Lucy become the strongest celestial mage ever to walk this planet, so it was Virgo's job to make sure her master was comfortable in her down-time.

Lucy woke up the next morning lying in a set of crisp bed sheets and panicked when she didn't know where she was. Memories flooded back to her and she started crying again, she noticed that she was still hugging her mother's earrings.

Waking up a bit, she saw a shower through a slightly ajar door and could only guess, judging by the fact that the cottage was sparking and there was a celestial looking outfit hanging over the foot of her bed, that Virgo had popped up. Lucy felt thankful and warm on the insides as she thought about how much her spirits loved and cared for her, whether she deserved it or not.

Smiling, she took a shower, dried off, got into her new outfit, which she loved, and decided that her mother wouldn't mind if Lucy used her earrings. Lucy pulled out her current ones and put them on her bedside table, then slipped the new ones in.

As soon as she did, she telepathically heard a multitude of voices, the voices of her spirits. _"Hello you guys." _Lucy announced her presence and heard a sharp gasp from her spirits. _"Lucy/Lucy-sama/Hime/Princess!" _Lucy heard her spirits cheer.

_"Did you find your mother's earrings?" _asked Aquarius. _"Yes! How did you know?"_ questioned Lucy. _"Because I was the one that gave them to her," _Said Aquarius, _"they allow you to join our telepathic channel." "Really? That's so cool!" _Lucy exclaimed.

Aquarius didn't respond so Lucy assumed that she had left the conversation. _"Another thing, Princess…" _Virgo started. _"You can use the channel to summon us without saying anything." "She is right Lucy-sama." _Capricorn said. _"Try summoning me now, without talking out loud." "Ok. Open, gate of the goat, Capricorn!" _There was a golden flash and Capricorn appeared looked proud.

"Well done Lucy-sama, your mother took many tries to do that. I'm sure she would be proud." Lucy's eyes began to tear up at her mother's most devoted spirit say that she would be proud of her daughter. "Thanks, Capricorn, that means a lot to me."

Capricorn bowed then said, "Lucy-sama, I wish to teach you some more advanced summoning techniques, including how to summon faster, more of us, and without using keys."

Lucy's eyes widened. "B-but only one other person has ever been able to summon spirits without using keys. And that was over 500 years ago!"

"Well then Lucy-sama, I will just have to make you the 2nd." Capricorn said with a determined look in his eyes.

**3 days later**

"Thanks Loki! You may return now." Lucy thanked while slashing Loki's key. Loki disappeared in a puff of golden smoke, leaving Lucy standing next to the river drenched in sweat.

Lucy had been practicing hand-to-hand combat with Loki for three days now and her dancing and gymnastic lessons when she was younger gave her natural dexterity, making it so Loki could land only 3 or 4 hits on her during a 30-minute sparring session.

Lucy knew she was lacking strength behind her hits, not that that would be a problem for long, as Capricorn was making her carry boulders this size of her torso over her head until she collapsed. Her daily cycle had been set, wake up, cook breakfast, eat breakfast, shower, train in magic with Capricorn using the technique that he had taught her while training for the Grand Magic Games, increasing her physical strength with Capricorn, spar with Loki, eat lunch.

Then train in magic again, spar again, then learn some new spells and techniques with Capricorn, make and eat dinner, read some books on celestial magic, then fall asleep. This was causing her to advance at an incredible rate.

She could already summon three spirits with more ease than what she could originally summon two with. She could use some simple star spells, and could last much longer physically against Loki and that confounded boulder. The star spells, Lucy learnt, were part of an incredibly rare type of magic. Most of the spells had been lost long ago.

Urano Metria was part of the set, and one of the most powerful, along with many others. The ones she had learn were, Star Streak, which would create a miniature star the size of Lucy's palm that would speed towards its target, causing quite a bit of damage.

She had successfully, much to Capricorn's delight, blasted a small cave into the side of the eastern hill. The spell took up much less power than Urano Metria as said spell was one of the most powerful spells in the set, Lucy could use Star Streak about 20 times before her magic ran out, although that number was increasing quickly.

Lucy's magic power had about doubled itself since she started training only three days ago. Another of the spells was called Solar Flare. This spell took up almost as much magic power as Urano Metria, it crease a huge slash of bright, golden light that could make a huge clearing in the middle of a dense forest, as demonstrated by Lucy.

Lucy's favorite spell was Star Surge. This created a beam of light from Lucy's hand that would, every half a second, pulse and release a white ball of energy, slamming into its target with incredible force. Lucy successfully half-destroyed the cottage pracising said spell, although thankfully, the room with all the books was left untouched and Virgo repaired the cottage.

Lucy could cast Urano Metria without Gemini, but it drained most of her power. Lucy had learnt those four spells, and was now being taught a fifth by Capricorn.

This spell would allow her to go into a ghost like form so she could float through most substances and float effortlessly. Lucy was sweating from the strain of trying to achieve the form when Capricorn shouted a warning and something pink covered her face.

**The day after Lucy left**

"LUCY'S GONE!" Mirajane came flying out of the infirmary looking frantic. "What do you mean Mira?" questioned her one time rival. "I mean she is gone, Erza." Mirajane snapped. "How can you tell?" "Lucy was gone and Natsu was crying again."

"Lucy's probably back at her apartment." Gray offered as an explanation. "I'm afraid that's not true Gray." A voice from the second floor echoed around the guild. "What do you mean by that Master?" Gray and Erza hissed venomously.

"I mean she left to train." This simple response made the guild erupt. "WHAT!" "Lucy would leave us!" "Yeah, we're her Nakama!" and other such comments could be heard.

Only nine people didn't add to the uproar, they were Gray, Erza, Master, Laxus, Gajeel, Levy, Mirajane, Happy and Wendy. Gray, Erza and Gajeel were frozen stiff with shock, while Levy, Mirajane, Happy and Wendy sobbed, while Master and Laxus stood solemnly, as they already knew.

"She gave me a note to read out." The master announced. The guild members looked up at the master that had made his way down to stand on the bar. "You mean, you mean, YOU MEAN YOU KNEW AND YOU LET HER GO! DON'T YOU CARE FOR HER?"

"GRAY!" The Master rumbled. "How DARE you suspect that it was an easy decision for me. I respect and care for her so much, that I gave her what she wanted."

He then broke down. "I-I-I tried, but she really thought she n-needed to d-do it." Mirajane walked over and gently eased the paper out of Master Makarov's hand and un-folded it. Then read out its contents to the guild.

**Hi Everyone.**

**I'm sorry for everything. I probably should explain myself, I'm not trying to make excuses. I know that what I did was horrible and I will stand accountable for my actions next time we may meet.**

**I'm sorry for taking advantage of everyone, making others fight for me and holding everyone back, whether it was running, fighting, learning, even just enjoying yourselves around the guild, I would always stop you by complaining, whining, making you guys save me. **

**To Master: **The master stopped crying when he heard Mirajane read out his name

**You were like my real father to me, ever since I joined the guild. I hope that someday I will be as wise and loved as you are. Thank you again for accepting my choice to leave and train. Thank you so much for everything.**

The Master of Fairy Tail started crying even harder when Mirajane stopped.

**To Mirajane: **Mirajane faltered when she read her name.

**You are the mother of the guild, always smiling, except for when someone hurts us, always helping even though you could be out adventuring on S-class missions. I really can't thank you enough for everything you have done for me. You are my idol and I hope that someday, I can be as perfect as you. I'm sorry I couldn't return all that you have done for me, sorry again.**

Mirajane fell to her knees, scrunching her hands into her eyes. Laxus bent down and pulled the letter from her shaking hands.

**To Levy: **Lucy's best friend lifted her head at the sound of her name.

**You were, and always will be my best friend. I know that you probably hate me now that I have taken advantage of you so much. I really hope you can someday forgive me and we can at least be friends again. Good luck with your metallic pursuits (**Levy blushed**) and I'm sorrier than you could ever know.**

**To Laxus: **Laxus looked close as if he wasn't reading it right. After checking that it really said his name, he continued.

**I can only guess that you are being lined up to be the next guild master now. Good luck with that and, if I do come back, I beg you to at least let me see my friends, if I have any, before you make me leave for good, which would be completely reasonable. I'm sorry and I hope I can make up for my mistakes.**

**To Gajeel:**

**My Iron-eating friend, I'm sorry for causing you and Levy so much pain. I can only guess that you are sitting near an angry Levy right now, **Gajeel looked to his right and saw Levy crying quietly into his arm and he thought, "Wrong there, bunny-girl." **I wish I could be as strong and as independent as you are, I hope that one day, if I meet you again, we can restart and be friends again.**

**To Happy:**

**I'm sorry Happy, for all the times I was mean, teasing you, throwing you, getting angry at you. I am truly sorry and hope that when we meet again we can go back to being at least companions. I see what you mean when you called me heavy now, Happy. You must have meant that figuratively, meaning that I was pulling you down. Next time I see you, I'll give you a ride around on my shoulders if you can handle being near me.**

**To Wendy:**

**I always thought of you as a younger sister, however now I think about it, that would mean I thought of myself as your older sister and role model. I'm disgusted in myself, how could I think so highly of myself when all I did was hide and cry. Be strong, unlike me, I hope that we can be friend again sometime.**

**To Lisanna:**

**You were always the closest to Natsu, being his childhood friend and all. I hope you can do what I could not and care for him, maybe even nurse his pride back. Sorry, sorry, sorry, for everything. You must have been so worried, see Natsu leave on missions with me, knowing that I was just going to give him all my injuries by hiding behind him. I hope you will at least be bothered to talk to me if we meet again.**

**To Juvia:**

**I'm so sorry. While I was prancing about, you must have thought that, while I was disgusting and acting full of myself, I was trying to seduce Gray. I'm sorry. I never had that in mind and I wish you the best of luck in perusing whoever you find interesting. I hope that someday I can be as full of love as you.**

**To Gray:**

**I thought of you as an older brother, always so strong, caring, considerate and an excellent role model. I'm sorry for making you lose one of your best friends, I practically tore Natsu away from you, making you lose your friend, rival and companion. I can't apologize enough for the amount of times I made you run to save me, or the amount of times I hide behind you while you fought and got injured. Sorry again.**

**To Erza:**

**My true, one and only complete role model. So strong, yet so pretty and nice. You are the exact definition of Fairy Tail, you were my older sister. I hope that someday, I might be able to feel your armor bang against my head as you hug me.**

**To Natsu:**

**Words can't express how sorry I am. I tore your pride away, I watched as you got tortured, I watched as your life got destroyed. I only watched like some cruel bystander. If there is anything I can do so we can at least be in the same guild, I will do it. Please remember, that no matter how much you hate me, I will, from now on, not remain living if you die. I would not be able to live with myself if you died because of my mistake, my mistake that took your pride. I would gladly die so you could live. Please remember me.**

**-Lots of Love, Lucy.**

The guild that night was still howling out their tears. Each and every one showing some kind of regret, wishing they had done something different so their beloved celestial spirit mage would still be with them.

**3 Days after Lucy left the guild to train**

"NATSU'S GONE!" Mirajane screamed to the guild as she came running out of infirmary looking similar to when a certain someone had snuck out of the infirmary three days prior. This time there was complete silence and shock, destroying the guild's members hearts at the shock of not one, but two of their most enthusiastic and admired people leaving.

The chaos that insured mingled with the depression from Lucy leaving making the people of Magnolia fear for their lives if their business took them close to the guild.

**About 5 weeks later, still at the guild, (about 3 days into Lucy's training)**

A brown headed man strolled through the streets over Magnolia, heading towards the famous guild of Fairy Tail. When he reached the guild building, he could almost feel the depressed and anger filled aura that surrounded the hall. He opened the doors quite forcefully, making all of the present guild members glare daggers at him.

If looks could kill, he looks he was given would have killed him before they had even sighted him. The man took a step back in shock, what had happened to the rowdy and accepting guild know as Fairy Tail, and why were they looking at him as though he had killed one of their "family".

Their family-like bond was renown around Fiore and was used as an idol for many minor guilds. The man started to recover from the death glares he was receiving and cleared his throat professionally. "I come bearing good and bad news."

The brown-haired mage announced to the depressed and murderous looking guild. "Get out." snapped the normally peaceful and famous cover girl. Mirajane's features were scrunched up with hatred.

The man bravely continued, "I will give you guys the good news first, after I have introduced myself. My name is Iriu, I am a member of the magic council's guild support squad, I help give guilds extra authorities in legal subjects they pursue."

"I was contacted by Blue Peagasus and Lamia Scale, both asking the same thing. To help Fairy Tail find Natsu Dragneel and Lucy Heartfilia." A loud gasp travelled around the room as Iriu completed his introduction, the hateful glares replaced with hopeful ones.

The man truly felt sorry for the words he knew he would have to say. "As I said before," he continued, "I will announce the good news first." The guild bated its breath, hoping against hope for the words they all wanted to hear. "The whereabouts of Lucy Heartfilia was known." The majority of the guild jumped from their seats, knowing that if Lucy was found, Natsu would be with her.

Although a few people refrained from cheering, those people had noticed the past tense and the tears streaming down the council members face as he recoiled, covering his face with his cloak. "SHUT IT!" screamed Erza. "You, tell us the bad news!" the guild's noise level was reduced down enough to hear the council members sobs.

"I-I'm so sorry, I truly am, but at the location where Lucy Heartfilla was found to be, there were traces of a fight, explosions all over the place, deep holes in the ground and footprints of people fighting along with traces of blood. We could find no remains." The guild went a deathly silent until…

"NOOO NOT LU-CHAN! SHE CAN'T BE DEAD, YOU'RE LYING!" Levy went to run towards the council member but was picked up and brought into a crushing hugged by a muscled, pierced man. "Bunny Girl…" Gajeel whispered into Levy's head with tears rolling down his face.

Erza screamed, Gray pleaded, Mirajane cried, Laxus smashed a fist into the bar, the Master started bawling and other such reactions were spread throughout the guild.

The council member excused himself feeling horrible and as he was the cause of their grief, but he knew that it would be the only way for to stop them going after his Master.

The man turned a corner into a dark alley way where he met a tall man with glasses on and legs sticking from his back. "-ebi?" the man shrouded with shadows asked. "Oh Regulas, that was horrible, I hope I never have to do something like that again, and can you turn my hair back to the way it was?"

There was a flash and there stood Leo the Lion. "Thanks Cancer." Thanked Loki while putting his glasses back on. "No problem… ebi." "We should go." "Agreed… ebi." The two spirits disappeared in a flash of warm, golden light.

**Back at Luyla Valley**

"Eep!" Squeaked Lucy as she was tackled to the ground. The owner of the pink hair looked her in the eyes. "N-Natsu?" Lucy questioned while being pinned to the ground by said person.

Natsu looked at Lucy through puffy, red eyes and slowly, ever so slowly leaned towards Lucy, looking at her lips. Lucy saw the expression and started lifting her head. Their lips were mere millimeters away when Lucy jerked back, looking away, crying. "I-I'm so sorry Natsu, I don't deserve you. I don't know why you came here, if you want revenge then I will go without a fi.."

Lucy was cut off my Natsu grabbing her chin and pulling her face up to his, slamming his lips against hers. Lucy eyes widened but relaxed into the kiss after a few seconds. They pulled apart after about 30 seconds, looking into each other's eyes, Natsu saw regret, while Lucy saw relief. Natsu opened his mouth and… "Lucy… I don't need revenge." A slightly deeper voice than normal came out of his mouth.

Lucy's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates and squeaked, "Natsu! Your voice! It's back!" a grin broke over their faces and they leaned into another kiss. This time, the kiss was full of passion and comfort. Natsu slid his tongue out and licked Lucy's lips, who responded by opening her mouth to allow Natsu's protruding tongue in.

Natsu felt the inside of Lucy's mouth, their moans of contentment mingling together. When they broke apart gasping for air, Natsu looked into Lucy's eyes and said,

"Luce, I really want to tell you how my voice came back," Lucy found herself falling even harder for Natsu with his new voice, "but only dragons and their mates can know…" Natsu stepped back, his bangs covering his eyes. "I love you Lucy. So I ask you, Lucy Heartfilia, will you be my mate?"

_**So how was it? Please R&R, No haters please, but constructive criticism is **_**_worshipped!_**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey Guys! So many favorites and follows! A massive THANKS to all the people that reviewed, especially Ella Daniels, lot of good advice in there. I will address a few of the things you pointed out, firstly, I didn't end up writing it, but I meant to mention that Cancer changed Loki's scent as well, Loki put on a voice, and the guild was too curious and worried about Natsu and Lucy to look to closely at him. Also, the guild hates to talk about Lucy and Natsu, so they found it too hard to speak to anyone outside the guild about it, which is why Lamia scale and Blue Pegasus where never thanked. I DON'T OWN FAIRY TAIL, I would own it if my greatest wish came true. Actually, I wouldn't, I will leave that honor to Hira Mashima-san!**

_Last Time_

_"Luce, I really want to tell you how my voice came back," Lucy found herself falling even harder for Natsu with his new voice, "but only dragons and their mates can know…" Natsu stepped back, his bangs covering his eyes. "I love you Lucy. So I ask you, Lucy Heartfilia, will you be my mate?"_

_This Time_

Lucy blinked from under Natsu. Then tears started to form in her eyes as she looked away from Natsu. "L-Luce! What's wrong?" Natsu said worriedly. His answer came in sobs, "I-it's f-fine, N-Natsu. I-i-it's just that I-I don't deserve you and I will only end up hurting you. I love you too, but I really don't deserve to…"

Lucy voice strengthened as she went on. "I'm sorry Natsu, I just want you to be happy, but I will make you miserable." "No, Lucy. You make me so incredibly happy." Natsu said, slightly forcefully. Lucy looked back up into Natsu's eyes and saw honesty and concern.

That look made Lucy feel so wonderfully content. "If you really want me to be your mate, then yes, I will be your mate." Lucy knew full well what being a dragon's mate meant, she and Levy had researched that topic enough. Natsu's face split into his signature grin.

He dropped his head, placed his mouth on Lucy's neck, then bit, channeling some of his magic into Lucy. A warm feeling spread through the two of them, as they both feel a cool touch on their left shoulders. At the same time, Lucy and Natsu looked at their partners left shoulder. Natsu saw a red dragon and Lucy's shoulder, roaring with all its might and a massive torrent of flame coming from its mouth.

Lucy saw a dark blue and white dragon on Natsu's shoulder, roaring a beautiful roar filled with blue and white, Lucy thought it looked similar to the night sky. "Wha?" Lucy questioned. "Are you supposed to get a mark Natsu?"

Natsu looked at what she was talking about and looked shocked. "Nope." There was a blinding flash of red and blue light, and there stood a middle aged woman. She had orange hair and a curvy figure. She was quite tall and held herself regally but had a humorous air around her. "Hello you two lovebirds." She sung.

"My name is Kyoko, I am here to help you two." The newely formed couple just stared blankly at her. Sje giggled and Lucy snapped out of her shock.

"Hello Kyoko, my name is Lucy Heartfilia, it's a pleasure to meet you." Lucy introduced herself after recovering from her shock. She then added, "And this is Natsu Dragneel."

Kyoko recoiled in shock when she heard the two last names. "Dragneel, adopted Son of Igneel, the King of the Fire Dragons. Heartfilia, adopted daughter of Layla, Queen of Star Dragons." She said with awe, "Wow, I really lucked out." "Umm… Excuse me, but I'm not adopted, Layla was my mother and I look exactly like her."

Kyoko paled as she heard Lucy's words. "B-but that's impossible, Layla was a dragon. That is why you left a mark on your mate and why I am here!" Lucy fainted. Natsu had no idea what was going on, and Kyoko looked like she had seen a ghost.

**2 hours later**

Lucy's eyes flickered open. She was lying in her bed in the newly repaired cottage. Lucy looked around, and saw a head covered in pink hair resting on her stomach. Lucy smiled as all her memories came back to her.

_Natsu got his voice back! _Lucy practically screamed in her mind, _and I'm now his mate!_ Lucy squirmed a little bit and Natsu looked up. "Luce! You're awake!" Natsu grinned. He gave Lucy a peck on the lips, and then helped her sit up.

"Natsu! I'm fine! I don't need help just sitting up!" Lucy said. Natsu just grinned again then sat next to Lucy on her bed. "You know, I have no idea what Kyoko said, do you know?" "I think so," replied Lucy, "But I don't know whether to trust her or not."

Lucy and Natsu sat there, enjoying each other's company in silence. Until Lucy jumped up and said, "I know! I'll summon Crux. Open, Gate of-" Lucy was cut off by Capricorn appearing in a puff of golden smoke. "Remember Lucy-sama, you can do that without speaking out loud now."

"Sorry." Lucy said meekly, then started to chant telepathically to open Crux's gate. "No need, Lucy-sama. It is true, Layla Heartfilia was a dragon." Lucy stared at him, her mouth almost hitting the floor. "She simply used her alternate form. So you, Lucy-sama, are half-dragon."

If Lucy's mouth hadn't been hitting the floor, it would have reached it by the end of Capricorn's statement. "If you need proof, channel some energy into your nails." A voice from the doorway said.

Lucy did as Kyoko suggested and was shocked to see her nails growing, growing into talons. Lucy gasped and tested the nails by slashing at her bed sheets. They were so sharp, that Lucy couldn't even hear a ripping noise as they sliced through the fabric.

Capricorn looked impressed. Kyoko piped up, "If you are interested, Lucy-sama, Natsu-sama, I can tell you about how and why I am here." "Yeah, that would be cool!" Natsu said, talking for Lucy as well as she was just staring blankly at her sheets.

"Before I go, Lucy-sama," Capricorn looked from Kyoko to Lucy, "Layla would be so proud of you finding your mate. Oh, and if you want to get rid of the nails, just channel energy into them again." Lucy snapped out of her shock at the sound of her spirit's voice.

"Thanks Capricorn." Lucy said while her nails started going back into her skin. Capricorn disappeared and Lucy turned to Kyoko. "Sorry about that." Lucy said, apologizing for her lack of attention. "No need to apologize, Lucy-sama. Anyway, I am magically created when two dragons find their mates in each other. I help them with their relationship as well as train them. I have a deep knowledge of their pasts and magic. Although I cannot use magic, I know all of the most advanced techniques for Star and Fire dragons. As well as slightly shallower knowledge of other magic. So do you want me to train you two?"

She asked. Natsu's response was "Hell yeah!" while Lucy's was "Yes please." Kyoko looked at the newly formed couple and said, "It would be my honor." "Oh wait!" Lucy said. "What does it mean that I am half dragon?"

"WOW! You're half dragon?" Natsu exclaimed. Lucy and Kyoko face palmed. "You have all the same powers as a dragon-slayer and your body is exactly the same as a human. The only difference is that you have the power to transform a part of your body into a dragon's and back again. Hopefully though, after your training, you might be able to transform multiple parts of your body."

Lucy nodded, Natsu looked even more confused and Kyoko then cheered. "So let's get your training started! Actually, Natsu-sama, I think you owe Lucy-sama an explanation…"

"Huh? Oh, right, yeah… I don't really know, but Igneel said something about a dragon's roar being it pride until a dragon finds their mate or something…" Natsu attempted to explain.

"Ummm… Ok?" Lucy said. "Kyoko can you please explain it properly?"

Kyoko giggled, "Sure. A dragon's roar is its way to find a mate, which means among dragons, having a loud roar is the way to find a mate. So when a dragon loses it voice, therefore pride, it loses the confidence to heal itself. But there is one exception. If a dragon finds its true pride, which is its mate, it will gain enough confidence back to heal their throat. To put it simpler, a dragon's roar is its confidence, while its mate is its true pride and pride inspires confidence."

"Oooookay… I think I get it…" Lucy processed the meaning of Kyoko's words while Natsu grinned and said, "That's exactly what Igneel said!" "Of course it is, silly! I have all of your memories, along with Lucy's!" "Wow really?" Natsu exclaimed excitedly. "Yes, really, anyway, onto your training!"

**The next night**

**_Dear Mother_**

**_Today I mastered the spirit form, the thing that lets me float around like a ghost. Training with Kyoko just seems more… natural? It is much easier is what I mean to say. I'm still going to train with my spirits, but not all the time now. _**

**_Sorry I didn't get time to write to you yesterday, but so much happened. Oh, you wouldn't know who is either would you? So I was training on the spirit form thing with Capricorn when Natsu came out of nowhere and tackled me to the ground! _**

**_Yes, the same Natsu whose life I destroyed. Anyway, I thought he was coming for revenge, but instead he kissed me! I'm so glad he was my first kiss. Not only did he kiss me, but he asked me to be his mate! I said yes then this person called Kyoko appeared. _**

**_She is really nice. She told me you are a dragon! That's so cool! If you were worried about telling me in case I reacted negatively, there is no need. I just love you more, if that is even possible. If makes you even more special and reconfirms that you care for me so much. So now I have a new friend, a new trainer, and a life-time mate!_**

**_Lots and lots of Love, Lucy._**

**2 weeks into her training.**

**_Dear Mother_**

**_Sorry again for not writing to you every day like I used to. Training has been so intense. I normally fall asleep at the dinner table! That always makes the other two laugh. Kyoko hasn't let me learn any dragon attacks yet. _**

**_She is training me in the star spells. Some of them are really pretty! I have learnt so many now! I learnt Galaxy Imprint, which blinds people for about 5 minutes, it was pretty funny watching Natsu stumble around the house blind although I feel mean for accidentally hitting him with it. _**

**_Another spells is called Solar Impact. I reckon it is probably the prettiest one. It makes these orbs that orbit around its target, then zip towards it. It's really hard on my magic, but I managed to blast the top of the North hill. _**

**_Virgo fixed it for me, I wouldn't let our precious valley stay harmed for too long! The last spell I learn makes me move really fast, it is just called Star. When I use it I can't help but think of the spell that Jellal used that was called "Meteor" I think. It's really fun to use. _**

**_Natsu had been learning more advanced secret dragon slayer arts and doing my mediation with me. I really have never seen him so happy! It makes me all fuzzy on the inside when I remember that I am the reason he is so happy. _**

**_Speaking of happy, I miss the little Neko, even with all his teasing ways. I miss everyone in Fairy Tail, they were my second family, and home to some of the nicest people I have ever known, after you of course. _**

**_Anyway, Loki has been teaching me how to use Regulas Magic and he says that I will eventually be able to use the magic that all my spirits use! I know the basic moves that Loki uses, same with Aries, which is really handy when it is Natsu's turn to train because I can make myself a really fluffy bed! _**

**_I can use Scorpio's magic as well now. Aquarius almost killed me because she thought I was flirting with him when I asked "for him to do his magic for me." I can now beat Loki in hand-to-hand combat! _**

**_Although he doesn't use magic or weapons but I am still allowed to use my whip. Kyoko says I have to go now, OH! She just said that tomorrow I will be learning a new type of magic tomorrow! I have to go now._**

**_Goodnight_**

**_Heaps upon heaps of love, Lucy_**

**3 Months into her training.**

**_Dear Mother_**

**_I'm so sorry! I haven't written to you in weeks! I'm sorry! Damn, I'm starting to sound like Aries. Anyway, the reason I haven't been writing to you is because I basically got kidnapped by my newest celestial spirit. Natsu and I went travelling for a while, having a break from training. _**

**_We went to the coast! It was so much fun! We didn't get to go swimming in the day because we didn't want people to recognize us, but we went during the night. While we were there I finally lost my ummm… "Final Innocence" to Natsu. _**

**_The third day we were there, we were walking on some cliffs near this ocean when this huge sea monster jumped out, so high that it landed on the top of the cliff, near where we were walking, scaring the complete crap out of me and making Natsu very angry. _**

**_I could tell it was a spirit though, so I stopped Natsu from attacking it. The spirit was like a HUGE eel. It probably wouldn't fit in the river in Luyla valley when it was the size it was! Although it told me that it could change its form and size. _**

**_It turned into a normal sized human and kissed my hand, which almost made Natsu go dragon force on him. He asked if he could be my spirit, I said yes then asked him which spirit he was. He looked at me strangely and said "I am the Sea Spirit, Cestus." _**

**_Yes! The elemental spirit Cestus! It's amazing! You know they haven't been sighted for over a thousand years, and then one just pops up and asks to be my spirit! I jumped up and down at the time, expressing my happiness. _**

**_Until he grabbed me and Natsu and threw us into the sea, transforming back into a fish and following us. He took us to his home, why he was staying in Earthland, I don't know. Anyway, he told us he was going to teach me about the spirits I didn't know of and help me find the other element spirits. _**

**_He and Natsu started the same friendly hate relationship Natsu and Gray have. It was so funny when he told Natsu he was the dragon of water and made Natsu worship him for a few days. When I broke it to him that Cestus was joking, he got so annoyed. _**

**_They started a fight which brought down the cave we were staying in and we had to find another one. He taught us how to use our magic to let us breathe underwater and resist the water pressure, which was a handy trick since whenever we wanted to go out, we were about 50 meters from the surface._**

**_Natsu gets motion sickness when he lies down in the waves! Can you believe that! I hope that when I master Star Dragon Magic I don't get motion sickness as well. I have learnt Roar, Talons, Claw, Elbow, Kick, and Fist of the star dragon already! _**

**_I find it really easy! The roar is even prettier than Solar Impact! Cestus taught me this way to channel my magic way better and I can now cast even Urano Metria four times before feeling tired. _**

**_Cestus is calling now. He wants to test me on the spirits now. Oh and he told me that Celestial Magic is just a branch of Star Dragon Magic! I didn't know that I had been using the magic of dragons for all these years. Now he is starting to get angry at me. _**

**_Lots of Love, Lucy_**

**Five months into her training.**

**_Dear Mother._**

**_I'm pregnant! I know it was an accident but I'm glad I am. Having a little bit of Natsu and Me inside me is oddly comforting. I'm already two months pregnant so it must have been the first time or soon after. _**

**_I get a break from training until our little baby is born! Natsu still has to train though. Poor him. All day everyday he is sparring against Loki, who came out using his own magic of course, and having Kyoko drive him almost to his death. _**

**_Speak of the devil, oh god he looks horrifying, he is covered in dirt and stuff. One sec… I just told him to have a shower so I can get dinner ready. I have to go now, and get his three course meal ready. Uhh, I guess it's the least I can do seeing as all I do is laze around making him go into town to satisfy my weird cravings and making him earn all the money._**

**_Lots and Lots and LOTS of Love, your Lucky Lucy._**

**7 months into her training.**

**_Dear Mother_**

**_I just wanted to say that I felt the baby! It felt so weird! I have to go now, sorry I didn't get much time to write, I'm in the middle of cooking breakfast._**

**_Lots of Love, Lucy_**

**1 year into her training.**

**_Dear Mother_**

**_I had the baby! It's a girl! Natsu and I decided to name it Luna, taking "Lu" from my name and "na" from his. Oh no, she's crying! Got to go._**

**_Tons of Love, Lucy_**

**2 years and 7 months into her training:**

**_Dear Mother_**

**_Something amazing happened today! I was taking Luna for a walk when I heard crying. I ran towards the noise and found a medium aged female exceed. She is really pretty! I comforted her and she told me her name was Murica. _**

**_She eventually asked if she could be my pet. I refused, but said that she can be my companion, equal and friend. She was separated from the rest of the exceeds a while ago because she ran off after being bullied. _**

**_She is mostly white, but with brown spots scattered all over her. Her eyes are light blue and she can do the most adorable puppy dog look, which is amusing because she is like a cat, but it's a figure of speech._**

**_Lots of Love, Lucy_**

**3 years into her training.**

**_Dear Mother_**

**_Kyoko said that she would look after Luna for the day so I can train! It will be difficult getting me up to where I was before, but it shouldn't be too hard. I need to start now, I won't be able to write to you for a while, training you know?_**

**_Lots of Love, Lucy_**

**_P.S. I just got home and Luna ran up to me and shouted "Mummy!" we were all so shocked because that was her first word. Once I got over my shock I was so happy that that was her first word. I hugged her so much Natsu had to practically pull her out of my arms to feed her!_**

**3 years and 2 months into her training.**

**_Dear Mother_**

**_I think I'm finally up to where I was before! Kyoko thought that we should give Natsu a while with Luna now. So I spent the day learning requip magic! Natsu found me so many keys while he was working that I need to be able to requip them, there are just that many! Luna is crying for me now. I have to go._**

**_Lots of Love, Lucy_**

**4 years into her training:**

**_Dear Mother_**

**_It is Luna's birthday today! We all had so much fun playing down by the river. Natsu went all the way to his old house to get some pictures of Fairy Tail as a present._**

**_I have mastered the dragon transformation now; I can have 3 dragon parts for about half an hour now. My favorite part is the wings; it feels so nice to fly around in the sky. I also completed my Star Dragon training a few days ago. _**

**_Lots of Love, Lucy_**

**4 years and 4 months into her training.**

**_Dear Mother_**

**_Natsu and I went traveling again! We went looking for more of the element keys, because of the excessive urging of Cestus. We found Draco, the fire element, a dragon and Cestus's best friend and rival on the third day we spent looking. It was the funniest entrance. _**

**_He skydived onto Cestus who I had summoned to help us find him. They got into a massive but friendly fight that ended in a new lake for the town we were near. He agreed to be my spirit, and got along legendarily with Natsu, both of them having fiery personalities and Draco being the King of Fire dragons before Igneel._**

**_Oh no, Cestus has gotten into another fight with Draco and Natsu. I need to go calm them down before they level the town that is only a few kilometers away._**

**_Lots of love, Lucy_**

**4 years and 5 months into her training.**

**_Dear Mother_**

**_We got home today! Luna was over the moon (see what I did there?) to see us again. I managed to get all four of the element keys on our trip, AND the light and dark keys! I'm so happy! _**

**_I feel really bad for Natsu though as he got nothing from our trip, apart from befriending Draco. So turns out, Regulas himself is the light element spirit; this made Loki go completely insane with happiness. _**

**_The Darkness spirit and on surprisingly good terms with Regulas was surprisingly, the spirit king himself! I expected him to be a light spirit not dark! But he is still one of my precious friends. The two light and dark spirits are so powerful and take up so much of my magic that Natsu and Kyoko made me swear to only use them in the direst of circumstances. _**

**_The Earth spirit is Hia, a female monster about the same size as Virgo's gorilla form. Speaking of Virgo, she and Hia were besties on first sight, both being earth based magic users and large-looking beast like things when Virgo is in gorilla form (_****A/N WHAT is that form called?)****_, they get along perfectly. _**

**_The air spirit you can barely see. His name is Fuaora and he is a master of stealth, knowledge and attacks using gigantic torrents of wind. He gets along well with Crux, both of them being quiet, old and wise. _**

**_While on our trip, I found out that Fuarora knew some basic healing spells and archive magic that I could use. He taught me while on our way back and I now have access to this huge amount of information; remind me to thank him again. I have to go now, Kyoko wants to teach me some more advanced Star Dragon Magic. _**

**_Lots and Lots of Love, Lucy_**

**4 years and 7 months into her training**

**_Dear Mother_**

**_It had been decided! We are going back to Fairy Tail! This will be Luna's first time going there and she is so, unbelievably happy. She is now speaking quite fluently for an almost 4 year old. _**

**_We are packing up here and starting to travel in a few days. I'll write to you again when we get there. Oh, I almost forgot, I have mastered all of my spirits magic now. _**

**_Lots of Love, Lucy_**

**So how was it? It was 4020 words, please R&R, constructive criticism is accepted greatly, just no hating please!**


	5. Chapter 5

_**AANNNDD Here is Ch.5 I hope the time skip last chapter wasn't to much... I don't own Fairy Tail, just the OCs that will be introduced this chapter. Enjoy!**_

**4 years, 46 weeks and 4 days later (exactly five years since Lucy left) and at the guild.**

The guild had gotten back into its groove a year and a bit after Lucy and Natsu had left. Everyone, even after five years, could clearly remember Lucy and Natsu, and the guild would suddenly vacate if either of them were mentioned.

Today was the day where they mourned for Lucy openly releasing the tears they had saved for her over the last year. They would mourn for Natsu in three days, but now, they focused on their sadness for Lucy. Laxus was in the middle of his guild master's speech when the doors flew open with such force that they were flung of their hinges.

They heard a giggle and an "Oh crap." When the dust settled they saw five cloaked figures, one a male and standing proudly, two curvaceous bodied females, one of which hitting the proud male over the head, a small child-like figure in-between the man and the woman that had hit the man over the head.

Lastly there was a tiny figure sitting on the child's shoulder. The guild set so much hatred into their glares that it seemed like they could level a building with their eyes alone. "Get the hell out." Gajeel growled menacingly.

"Why should I?" the male said with a deep voice. Gajeel stood up and sent an iron pillar towards the strange five. The female put up her arms and murmured something. The iron pole went straight through where they were standing a second ago.

"That wasn't very nice you know, we just wanted to re-join the guild." The male said from behind Gajeel. This time the other female hit the male, and the hit was so hard that he feel face-first into the ground, letting go of the child's hand.

The figure that had been sitting on the child's shoulder jumped up into the air and sprouted large and majestic looking wings. "Hey, look Carla, it's another exceed!" Happy said excitedly, he had grown a lot over the 5 years and stood next to Carla and a smaller baby exceed.

The exceed that had jumped into the air let its hood fall off, it was white with blue spots and was very pretty. Pantherlily froze, obviously smitten by this new and beautiful exceed. Gajeel nudged Lily and did his classic laugh "Gi Hee."

"What do you mean you want to rejoin my guild?" questioned Laxus as he moved closer to the female who was helping the disgruntled male up. "Who are you?" He reached forwards to pull back the hood when the female looked up.

The female saw Laxus's hand mere centimeter from her hood and reacted instinctively, pushing the arm out of the way with her left arm and pusher her right palm forward into Laxus's broad chest. Laxus went flying back across the guild while the female jumped in shock at what she had done.

"Oh my god! Laxus! I'm so sorry. It was instinct!"

"That voice…" Levy was stunned. "Yeah!" yelled the man as he jumped up, recovering from his earlier hit while the child giggled at him, "we're back!" as all four people pulled their hoods back one-by-one.

One of the females pulled her hood back, revealing an middle aged woman with orange hair, then the child did the same, revealing a girl that was a carbon copy of Lucy but with Natsu's onyx eyes, next was the male, pulling back his hood to reveal the famous Salamander that had been supposedly dead for years.

He had slightly longer and more tamed hair than before and looked more mature, but still had a mischievous glint in his eyes.

Finally the woman pulled her hood back, blonde hair tumbling out of her hood that reached half-way down her back. It was Lucy. There was a huge silence through the guild, everyone was shocked out of their minds.

Then… "Mummy, Daddy…" **(A/N I'm Australian and instead of Mom, it is Mum.)** the little girl piped up. "Why is everyone looking at us like that?" Her comment opened the flood gates.

"WHAT?!" "MUMMY?!" "DADDY?!" "THEY'RE PARENTS?!" "HE GOT HIS VOICE BACK?!" "IT'S LUCY!" "WE THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD!" cheers, sobs, shock and other such reactions were spread throughout the guild. When people started throwing questions at Lucy asking how she was alive, there were two flashes of light and there stood Loki and Cancer, both looking sheepish.

Loki spoke first, "I acted as Iriu all those years ago, I still feel guilty for making you all suffer such sadness, but I was necessary to give Lucy her privacy." As much as the guild wanted to hate the two of them, they couldn't.

Everyone knew that Loki hated himself for it and he was only doing it to help Lucy. So the two spirits were forgiven, even by Lucy for doing it without her permission, and they left to go back to the spirit world.

**30 or so minutes later**

Introductions, reunions, tears, explanations and apologies were thrown around the guild. Natsu and Lucy daughter was three and a half year old and called Luna. She knew a few words and held a fair bit of magic power for someone her age.

There were a few new guild members as well. Lyon had joined to be with his fiancé, Juvia. Ultear, Jellal and Meredy had joined but kept their team together and was still called Crime Soircere. Their names had been cleared about a year and a half after Lucy and Natsu had left.

Gray was dating Ultear, and Jellal was dating Erza. Other new members included Tokaji, Mayuko, and Roka. Roka was the Earth Dragon Slayer **(A/N See what I did there? Rock-a…Yeah it's bad I know.)**, who hung out almost constantly with Gajeel and Levy.

Gajeel had finally proposed to Levy after almost five years of dating and had asked Roka to be his best man. Mayuko was a young girl who used pressure magic, which could put and object under unbelievable pressure and was given the nickname, "the new Erza" for her sense of justice and her strictness.

She was best friends with Asuka and could only be found being carefree around her. Asuka had become a beast summoner, and could create animals using her magic. She had become very powerful and her personality was almost the opposite of Mayuko. She was cheerful and constantly cheering people up. She could always be found in the center of the guild brawls until her parents dragged her out.

Tokaji was a Heavenly Body Magic user and was constantly found talking to Meredy, them being glued at the hip since they had started dating a few months ago. Jellal had been training him and was expecting Tokaji to overtake the ex-wizard saint someday, Jellal thought he had so much potential.

Mirajane was proud of all the couples she had created. She was working on Lisanna and Bixlow at the time, she had just gotten Cana and Laxus together, along with Elfman and Evergreen. But Mirajane was not the only one playing matchmaker.

Once Wendy had gotten into romance, thanks to Romeo, she thought that everyone should have someone. Although she had only gotten one pair together, it was a huge achievement seeing as it was Mirajane, the matchmaking, demon barmaid herself and Freed, the upright, normally concealed (unless it came to Laxus) and strict rule abiding rune user.

Mirajane and Wendy had fainted at the same time when they saw that Natsu and Lucy had their own kid, both being suckers for romance, both were disappointed that they didn't get to play a part in getting them together.

"So Lucy," Erza struck up a conversation. "I hope you are Natsu were married before you had your child…" "Nope, we still aren't," then, seeing the death giving look Erza was directing at Natsu, she added, "Well, kind of, we are married by dragon standards."

Lucy showed Erza the Tattoo of the fire dragon on her neck. "If we are apart from each other for more than a few days or so, we start to feel physical pain and our magic power starts to disappear." Erza looked shocked and apologized profusely for misunderstanding, sounding like Virgo and asking for punishment.

"Sorry about before Lucy." said a deep voice from behind said woman. Lucy turned away from Erza to see Laxus standing there looking apologetic.

"I should be the one apologizing Laxus, sorry for hitting you, it was pure instinct."

"Never mind that, I'm impressed, not many people can knock me out for 20 minutes with one hit by pure instinct."

Lucy looked proud and giggled. "I guess my training paid off then… So I see you are master now."

"Yeah, gramps stepped down from that role a few years ago, not long after you left." What Laxus didn't tell her was that she was the reason Makarov felt he no longer could make the right decisions.

"Oh? Where is he now?"

"He's travelling, he says he wants to do it one last time while he still can, the amount of medication Porlyusica has him on is crazy." Lucy giggled at the medication part. "Do you still use Celestial Magic Lucy?" questioned Erza.

Lucy turned back and said, "Turns out, celestial magic is a branch of Star Dragon Magic. I am half-dragon, my mother was a dragon in human form." Erza fainted, so Lucy continued to talk calmly to a pale Laxus.

"Which is why I have Murica here, she is my exceed and apart from Aera she can use basic healing magic and archive along with a little bit of celestial magic. Anyway, apart from Celestial I can use Achieve, Requip **(NOT the Knight, just requip),** and Star Dragon magic!"

Lucy grinned as even more blood fled from Laxus's face. "It looks really pretty, and all I need to eat is starlight. I can eat anywhere under the open sky, even in the day, but when I eat in the day, I don't get as much of a boost of power."

Lucy looked like she was thinking for a second then said, "While we were away, we took care of some dark guilds as well. It was so funny when Tartaros attacked us while we were on a train. Natsu was motion sick, Kyoko was staying at home, and I got Murica to fly Luna away."

This news made the normally impassive wizard saint called Laxus faint. A feminine voice behind Lucy spoke up. "Do you mean you beat the whole of Tartarous by yourself?" Erza seemed close to fainting again. "Yep, but I'm still not as strong as Natsu." said man was talking to the men of the guild while Luna sat in his lap.

Lucy smiled warmly and looked back at Erza, who had fainted again. People who looked over to see Lucy grinning while standing in-between two unconscious s-class wizards, sweat dropped. Lucy walked over to Kyoko and asked if she and Murica could look after Luna while she and Natsu went on a quest to get some money for a house.

Murica didn't answer; she was staring at Lily who was staring back at her. Lucy and Kyoko grinned at this new development. Lucy asked again and Kyoko agreed. Lucy then walked over to Luna and Natsu. As soon as Lucy had managed to get Luna of her father's lap and sitting on the bench, a blue ball of fur flew at Lucy and Natsu.

For many days after, people would swear that they heard Happy broke the sonic wall as he rushed, crying towards his foster father and his partner. Happy got his hands around the necks of the Blonde and the Pink-haired dragons and pulled them into a choking hug.

"H-Happy, c-can't breathe!" gasped Natsu. Happy pulled out of the hug and buried his head into Lucy's bust, crying like he would before Lucy had left.

"Y-you're back!" he sobbed. A few minutes of calming down Happy and Luna, who had started crying when Happy did, did the trick and they stopped crying.

Lucy and Natsu had just achieved a new record for calming down Luna and had shared a High-Five when Erza and Gray walked up.

"Hey you two lovebirds. Care to go on a mission with two S-class wizards?" Gray asked, bragging about his title and signaling to himself and Erza. "Sucks to be you, flame-brain, because Gajeel, Me, Jellal, Cana, Wendy and Roka are S-class while you aren't!"

"Are you making fun of us?" Natsu growled. "Why, you embarrassed Flame-Brain?" "No, it's just annoying…" sighed Natsu "Ice-prick."

A grin formed across their faces as the friendly-rivalry returned in full. Gray threw a punch at Natsu, using his Ice Magic to coat his fist. "Uhh… I wouldn't do that if I were you." Lucy said hesitantly. But Gray went ahead and tried to punch Natsu.

Natsu calmly grabbed his fist and sent out a small steam of white fire from his free hand. The fire hit Gray, sending him across the guild hall. The guild members gasped as another of their strongest members flew across the guild.

"I hope that was only sparring, Natsu." growled Erza, giving Natsu a death glare while Luna cheered "Yay! Strong Daddy!" Natsu, who was used to death glares by now as he had found his mate was one of the fiercest women on the planet when she was angry, just shrugged and said, "Whatever."

The guild groaned as they thought it was Natsu's turn to go flying across the guild. Erza growled and went to hit Natsu over the head, who just stood up, grabbed the arm, and clocked Erza over the head, effectively knocking her out.

Most of the guild fainted but Lucy just sighed, "I have a feeling that they are going to have a hard time getting used to how powerful we are now…" "Wait just one second Flame-Brain." Lucy turned to where Gray's voice had sounded from.

"You might have gotten more powerful, but so did I. I think that you might just find my new power interesting." said Gray with a smirk as he strode towards Natsu. "Whatever Ice-prick, I'll always be better that you." was Natsu's curt response.

"Oh really? Then take this!" Gray threw his head back and yelled, "ICE DRAGONS ROAR!" a huge amount of Ice flew from his mouth, heading straight towards Natsu, who did nothing but raise his eyebrows. The ice hit Natsu, or would have.

Natsu was covered in white flames, the flames were so hot, that as soon as the Ice hit him, it evaporated, leaving Natsu untouched. "So that is why you smell like a Lacrima." Natsu shot at him, "It isn't a very nice smell if you ask me."

Gray just smirked. "Still think you're more powerful than me?" Gray's smirk grew even larger as he asked Natsu. "Oh yeah. Unlike you, I can even use my most powerful attacks without speaking." The guild gasped, being able to cast spells without speaking was difficult, but when they were spells as powerful as some of Natsu's, a feat like that had never been recorded in human history.

To back-up his claim, Natsu slashed his arm, thinking _Flame Elbow of the Fire Dragon!_ A large slash of fire flew towards Gray, who tried to block the attack.

The attack just melted straight through the Ice shield he created, even though it was about 10 times as thick as what his old shield was. _"I'll say it again," _thought Lucy as she ran over to help Wendy heal the unconscious Gray, _"They are going to have to get used to how powerful we are."_

**2 hours later**

Gray and Erza walked towards the train station from the guild, Gray not needing to pack anything for the quest and Erza grapping her cart from around the side of the guild. They waited at the train station for a while, talking about Team Natsu and how they were glad it had come back together.

Gray, although he wouldn't admit it even if it cost him is life, missed Natsu greatly. Erza had started crying like when she had joined Fairy Tail, keeping up a strong mask while in the guild but sneaking out to cry into the river.

They were still talking 10 minutes later when Lucy dragged an unconscious Natsu up to the train station. When Gray and Erza questioned her, she replied by simply saying "He didn't want to go by train and we had to sort out something for Luna."

Erza and Gray nodded in understanding. Once they were on the train and had been traveling for about an hour, Natsu leapt up. "Hey Lucccceee. What was that for?" He looked at the three people and the cat surrounding him. Gray looked slightly green.

They all looked at him as if expecting something. "What are you guys looking at me like that for?" they just continued to look at him. Natsu looked around and took note that he was in a train, his muscles going limp and he fell to the floor, a jumble of useless limbs.

Erza picked him up and went to place his head in her lap just like old times when Lucy leapt from her seat, snarling ferociously with a fist drawn back.

She jumped towards Erza and her fist was mere centimeters from her stunned and confused face when she pulled out, stopped her fist and gasped in shock. "S-sorry Erza, it was my Dragon instincts." She mumbled while falling back into her seat and covering her face with her hands, leaving Erza still holding Natsu's head above her lap, stiff with shock.

A few minutes passed and Lucy looked back to see Erza's body still frozen, but her eyes looking into Lucy's. Lucy stood up and walked over, placed a hand on Natsu's forehead and murmured something. Natsu's body was covered in a transparent blue sheen and visibly relaxed. Lucy did the same for Gray.

Natsu's eyes opened and he stood up, while Gray's green sheen disappeared and he visibly relaxed. Natsu, while thanking Lucy for healing him, he went back to his seat next to Lucy's. "Erza, I'm sorry," apologized Lucy, "I would never hit you out of anger. I know I hurt you emotionally again, I'm sorry."

Erza snapped out of her daze, "It's ok, but what do you mean hurt me again?"

"All those years ago when I made Natsu leave, it must have hurt you all so much." Lucy then let out a sob. Lucy felt a pair of strong arms reach around her, knowing who was hugging her, she turned into his chest and sobbed, letting Natsu's clothes absorb her tears.

Lucy looked up at Natsu and shared a small kiss with him. Gray looked uncomfortable by this public display of attention, while Erza nodded stoically. Lucy and Natsu, grinning at Gray's obvious unease, proceeded in a fully-fledged make out session.

"Hey stop it you two." said a red Gray after a few minutes. Lucy and Natsu separated, grinning. Erza had looked pointedly away. Lucy started a telepathic channel with Natsu, saying "_Yet another thing they are going to have to get used to…"_

Lucy then added her spirits to the channel and started small chatting with her spirits to make the ride pass quicker. Lucy enjoyed talking to Aquarius, who had become significantly closer to Lucy once she became Natsu's mate, although her new friendship with her master still didn't stop her from washing up a few of her date's with Natsu as revenge for all the times she had summoned the mermaid spirit during HER dates.

Natsu enjoyed talking to Draco, of course. Lucy decided to add Happy, Erza and Gray. Happy started talking to Cestus about eating fish, Gray talked to one of her minor spirits that uses water magic, and Erza talking to Lucy's weapon-specialist spirit.

They waited out the rest of the ride talking with Lucy's spirits. So when the 7 hour ride finished, they were all looking forward to having a good night's rest so they could be ready for the S-class mission that Gray and Erza had chosen.

Lucy, Natsu and Happy got a suite room, while Erza and Gray each got separate, but much smaller rooms. No-one thought about the name of the hotel; Moonview. Nor were Natsu, Lucy and Happy expecting a visit from a large crowd of shadow mages in the middle of the night.

_**Good? Not one of the better ones? Lemme know. Saying the story is good is awesome, but constructive criticism and advice is worshiped. I will be updating AT LEAST once a week, however, once exams and stuff come around, I don't know...**_


	6. Chapter 6

**_Here it is. I only proof-read it twice, so there might be more mistakes than normal. Hope you enjoy! Please R&R and Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima._**

**_Last Time_**

_They were all looking forward to having a good night's rest so they could be ready for the S-class mission that Gray and Erza had chosen. Lucy, Natsu and Happy got a suite room, while Erza and Gray each got separate, but much smaller rooms. _

_No-one thought about the name of the hotel; Moonview. Nor were Natsu, Lucy and Happy expecting a visit from a large crowd of shadow mages in the middle of the night._

**_This Time_**

Natsu and Lucy woke up from their shared bed at a loud clicking noise. Natsu jumped over Lucy, protecting her if any enemies where attacking. Natsu tried to fling his arms out to cover more of Lucy, but couldn't.

Natsu started struggling, feeling handcuffs. "Ugh…" Natsu grunted as the handcuffs containing him cut into his wrists from his squirming.

"I wouldn't do that if I was you." A smooth but menacing voice came from beside their bed.

Natsu felt Lucy stiffen beneath him. He was lifted off his mate by shadows, before being thrown across the room. When he hit the wall, he got a chance to look at his attackers. They were cloaked and had shadows swirling around them.

"Now it's your turn to watch." Those words hit Natsu like a train, realizing what the situation reminded him of. "Let's not torture her in the same way, she deserves worse. If it wasn't for these stupid fairies, Murya, Zioa, and Heilo wouldn't be dead." said one of the shadowy figures.

The man that had talked walked over to Lucy, making his shadows disappear and taking of his shirt. Lucy, who was still frozen stiff with shock, could only watch as she was lifted and was being tied to the head of the bed.

"NOOOO!" Happy screamed, jumping out of nowhere, going into his battle form. "REQUIP! Axe of Light!" a battle-axe covered in shining light swung towards the torso of the man currently tying up Lucy.

The axe swung straight through the man, his torso turning into shadows, leaving him unharmed by the powerful strike. Happy eyes grew wider, and was then blasted back into a wall by a stream of darkness, hitting it and falling unconscious.

"ENOUGH!" roared Natsu, his rage overflowing. He welcomed the sensation, knowing it would make him powerful enough to break through the handcuffs that were preventing him from using magic.

"RAARGHHH!" his voice getting louder and louder until his body burst into flames, his handcuffs falling off. The eyes shadow-mages almost fell out.

"H-He overloaded them?" "B-B-But they are supposed to be able to contain a wizard saint!" "No way!" the dark mages shuddered in fear while expressing their worries to the other wizards.

"FLAME DRIVE! DRAGON FORCE!" roared Natsu, activating two of his three most powerful modes. The heat in the room escalated to a temperature where the wood started to char, Natsu skin turned into scales while his body was covered in white flames of an amazing intensity.

_Fire Dragon's Fire Stream! _He thought, a pillar of white fire erupting underneath the dark mages, sending them through the ceiling. Natsu's hair covered his eyes as he observed his handiwork. _Good,_ he thought, _I didn't damage much._

Natsu's flames had only affected the enemy wizards, astounding a newly awakened Happy. _Fire Dragon's wings!_ Natsu chanted mentally, wings of fire erupted from his back. His wings flapped once, sending him up through the holes the shadow-mages had made in the roof.

While gaining vertical speed; Natsu thought, _Fire Dragon's Iron Fist! _His fist was covered in white-hot flames as he punched one of the mages he had caught up with, causing a massive explosion in the sky and sending the unfortunate mage into his guild-members.

This made the enemy mages fly out of the town, creating a cloud of dust as they landed outside the city. Natsu flew after them. The dark mages where just getting up, asking each other questions such as "What the hell is this guy?"

A huge cloud of dust exploded right in the middle of their group.

"Don't." they heard.

"You." another word, sounding slightly more forceful.

"Ever." the voice got more forceful again.

"Threaten." The dust started to clear.

"Her." There was only a little bit of dust left.

"AGAIN!" Natsu stood in the middle of a small crater, with fire in his eyes and looking ready to kill. One of the mages scoffed. "Tch, you think you can take all 15 of us? Cocky much?"

"Count again." Natsu yelled as he disappeared, reappearing behind a cluster of 5 mages, thinking, _Fire Dragons: Fist, Elbow, Blade, Horn, Talon, Tail. _A powerful series of attacks hit the group of mages, knocking them out before they could respond.

The mage who had spoken jaw almost hit the floor, shocked at the power Natsu possessed. "And now, time for the main event." Natsu grinned a sadistic smile. _Secret Dragon Slayer's Art: Crimson Phoenix, Volcanic Eruption!_

Natsu raised his arms, a magic circle the size of the guild hall surrounded his feet. A gigantic torrent of fire and magma flew up into the air, not affecting Natsu. The enemy mages screamed, and trees around Natsu died in huge numbers as the powerful spell took its toll on the surrounding landscape.

The Fire-Dragon Slayer stood in the middle of a burning field, his clothes waving from the magic he was still emitting. He deactivated his Dragon Force and Flame Drive mentally, while eating the flames around him to refill the slight dent in his magic.

He turned after finishing his meal to see Lucy grinning knowingly and proudly, while Gray, Erza and Happy stood with their jaws almost hitting the floor. Natsu grinned. "Alright!" cheered Natsu. "Now let's go back to sleep."

The others sweat dropped. They walked back to the hotel where most of the people were wide awake and staring at them, being woken up by the loud bangs and flashes of light. Erza waved them off, vaguely explaining what happened, still dazed by Natsu's power.

They said goodnight to each other. "Night Erza, Gray." Natsu and Lucy said together. "Hey Happy," started Natsu while he smiled coyly, "can you stay with Erza or Gray tonight?"

"But why Natsu?" Happy replied with a sob.

"We want some alone time." Lucy said.

"Why can't I be with you?" complained Happy, while Gray, Erza, Natsu and Lucy face palmed at his obliviousness. "It's ok Happy, we can hang out." said a red Gray while he grabbed Happy by the tail and ran to his room.

Erza walked stiffly away, she had already expressed her distaste at them not being married, although she kept her opinion quiet, to respect the whole dragon's mate thing. Lucy sighed, "Let's go Natsu." Half an hour or so later pleasure for Natsu and Lucy, they fell asleep.

This allowed Gray to finally un-stuff his ears, Erza stop trying to ignore the sounds she could hear, and granting Happy some noiseless sleep. The three others in the newly reformed team Natsu fell asleep as well.

**The Next Day.**

"Natsu! Fight me!" was what Natsu heard as he entered the café of the hotel. Erza noticed Lucy was walking awkwardly and holding hands with Natsu. "So how was last night Lucy?" Erza asked coyly, surprising everyone. "Well," Lucy started slowly, "Luna might just get a sibling…"

Silence…. More Silence… Even More Silence. Then, "Natsu! You Baka! I challenge you to a duel!" Erza shouted, drawing the attention of other people in the café. "Maybe after Gray." Natsu grinned in response. "Why not a tag team? Me and Erza vs. You and Lucy." suggested Gray.

"Taking advantage of my incapability of walking are we Gray?" Lucy teased as she grinned at Gray's obvious embarrassment. "I-I, Y-you, I." he spluttered. Lucy grinned and waved a hand over her waist, casting a healing spell. "I'm all good now, we accept." Lucy's grin grew even wider.

**A few hours later at the town's arena.**

"Wow, just look at this place!" Lucy squealed as they passed through the magically protected archway and into the sandy floor of the arena. "We have Natsu to thank for that." Erza said. "Wha? How?" questioned Natsu, in obvious confusion.

Erza sighed and replied, "Because the Mayor was afraid you would destroy the town if we let you fight near here again." "Oh." Natsu grinned. "Battle starts now! Ice Make-Dragon's Claw!" Gray shouted, a gigantic claw of ice sprouted out of the ground, attacking Natsu back. Lucy appeared in front of Natsu, shouting "Regulas Punch!" a fist of light grew out of Lucy's hand, shattering the ice attack.

Erza and Gray flew at Lucy and Natsu, who were now back-to-back. Lucy pulled out 5 keys, "Open Gate of the Scorpion, Ram, Lion, Crab, Goat. Scorpio, Aries, Loki, Cancer, Capricorn!"

Five blobs of light appeared around Lucy, forming into her spirits. "Five at once?" Gray said in awe, then he added. "That won't be enough!" "I know." Smiled Lucy, Gray faltered and turned. There stood Taurus, Virgo, Sagittarius and Gemini in the form of Natsu.

"H-How?" stuttered Gray. Taurus and Sagittarius did a unison raid, sending an axe and many arrows flying towards Gray. While Virgo went underground, attacking Gray from below, and Gemini yelled, _Fire Dragon's Sword Horn_! Lucy watched as Gray skillfully either blocked using his ice fists or dodged all the attacks.

"Ice Make- Dragons Glacier!" A massive Glacier appeared above the four spirits, crushing them as it fell. Virgo and Gemini managed to escape by Virgo digging them a hole underground. Lucy flinched as she felt her spirits pain.

"Enough! You didn't need to do that Gray, you should have let them surrender!"

"Why? They're just spirits..." Lucy became enraged. "Why did you change Gray? Why did you become so cocky! Forced Gate closure," she yelled, her eyes flaming while she slashed the air with her hand. "I guess I will stop going easy on you then! Star Dragon's form, Wings, Talons, Claws!"

Her feet and hands grew vicious looking blue and white nails and beautiful wings about 5 meters wide appeared on her back. She then chanted mentally, _"Open, Gate of the Sea Monster, Gate of the Dragon, Gate of the Beast, Gate of the Sky, Cestus, Draco, Hia, Fuaora!" _

Four more blobs of light appeared, larger this time. There stood the four element spirits. "I'm not done! Star!" her body started to glow gold. Then she moved with her spirits faster than Gray could follow. "Galaxy Imprint!" a blinding light was sent towards Gray.

"Solar Impact!" another flash of light, this time it came from behind Gray, and some miniature planets started orbiting him.

"Urano Metria!" 88 streaks of lighted headed towards Gray, Lucy sacrificing some of its power so she didn't have to chant the full spell.

"Solar Flare!" She slashed her hand and a slash of golden flame appeared, again from a different spot.

"Star Streak!" A pulsing beam was sent towards Gray.

Before any of the attacks or her spirits hit, she had a shocked Gray in a choke hold on the ground. All the attacks and spirits were millimeters from Gray when Lucy raised her spare hand/claw. All the spells stopped, Gray got his sight back, and the spirits froze.

Gray blinked and looked around to see about 10 powerful spells about to hit him, 4 spirits glaring at him, and Lucy's eyes drilling into him. "Surrender." Lucy spoke with such force that Gray backed down immediately.

"O-okay, I surrender!" squeaked Gray. Lucy released a sigh. All the attacks disappeared, her body went back to full human and her spirits returned to their home world. Lucy stood up, and offered Gray a hand.

Gray took it grimly, Lucy pulled him up and once he was standing, she punched him back down again, "That's for calling my spirits 'just spirits'." "Sorry." mumbled Gray, rubbing his head ruefully where Lucy hand punched him.

"Explain." Lucy demanded.

"When I thought you and Natsu died, I refused to allow my heart to be open enough to have a fourth heartbreak, my parents dying being my first, then Ul, then you and Natsu." Gray mumbled, but his voice grew stronger as he continued. "I failed at keeping separate though, when Ultear got through to me. I can still be myself when I'm just with her."

He paused, then continued with a small smile. "I really am grateful that we are together. I wish I could be my old, brotherly self but old habits die hard. I don't even know what is an act for me anymore, because right now, I am trying to be nice and open, even though I feel uncomfortable doing it." Gray grimaced before he continued.

"But being cold **(A/N Pun not intended.) **and cocky was an act to help me get over the loss of you and Natsu. I was being stupid, I-"

Lucy cut Gray off by pulling him into a hug, "No matter what Gray, you will always be my older brother." Gray hugged Lucy back and cried into her shoulder, releasing the tears of happiness that showed he was back to his old self.

**Back to the beginning of the fight. (Following Natsu and Erza this time.)**

"I saw that you have improved back there Natsu." Erza grimaced as she remembered the raw power that Natsu had shown.

Natsu grinned, "That was nothing." "Well let's see if you can live up to your talk!" Erza's voice rose in a crescendo as she moved towards Natsu at lightning speed.

"Requip! Flight Armor!" she yelled and reached Natsu in less than a second from her spot over 20 meters away. When she was close enough to strike she yelled, "Requip! Sea Empress Armor!" her body glowed gold and she appeared a split second later with a finned sword in hand, ready to strike Natsu with his opposite element.

Her sword sliced down, from when she made her first move, it had been less than a second and Natsu had barely had time to react. The sword was nearing him, getting closer and closer but he made no move to stop the slice.

It hit his skin with a clang, the sword shattering. Erza looked at the sword in shock, then to where her sword should have sliced him. There was a small barrier of white fire above his skin.

Natsu grinned, "I just made the flame so intense that they became solid. Now for some fun!" He created solid flamed on the inside of Erza's armor, but made them a temperature that wouldn't burn her, just make her uncomfortable.

"What is this supposed to do?" Erza requipped, "Requip, Flame Empress armor!" Natsu didn't even see her change, it was just so quick. One moment she was wearing the green armor, next the red. She held two swords in her hand, one from her Sea empress set to attack with, one from her Fire empress set to defend with.

"Interesting combination Erza." Natsu said, then added, "Now try to hit me!" Erza pulled her arm back, and attacked Natsu's neck with her Sea blade, water wrapping around it. Then she stopped, or more like her armor stopped her from moving.

The solid flames Natsu had made were stopping her from moving her armor! Natsu grinned, Erza scowled. "Requip!" Natsu raised an eyebrow and said, "Why do you still have to shout? I thought you would be powerful enough to do it mentally." Erza kept on, "Robe of Yūen!" Erza was covered in Purple cloth.

"Another interesting choice Erza." Erza scowled, Natsu, the Natsu she had intimidated consistently was teasing her! Natsu continued. "But what is the point in using an armor that can't be controlled, when it offers no defensive or offensive bonuses?"

Erza looked at Natsu, questioning his logic. Natsu grinned yet again and raised his hand. Erza's robe disintegrated in white fire. Erza instinctively put her hands over her private areas, but noticed that there was already an intense, solid white flame covering her entire body, again not burning her.

Erza struggled, but couldn't move. She opened her mouth to requip, but white flames appeared around her jaw, preventing her from talking. "This, Erza, is why you should learn to requip without talking. I would be quite happy to teach you, consider it as payback for all the grammar, reading and spelling lessons you gave me when we were little." Natsu then grinned again, but differently.

This was his famous, careless smile that would always warm the hearts of the guild on a cold day. Erza knew that Natsu was sincere, not teasing her for her loss as others might.

Natsu saw the look in Erza's eyes, and removed the flames from around her mouth. "You have gotten much stronger Natsu, far strong than what I could ever have imagined. I could tell be the ease at which you defeated me, one of the ten saint wizards that you didn't even use your full power. Be careful how you use that power."

"You're a saint wizard now? That's so cool." He grinned yet again. Erza, while requiping into her Heart Kreuz armor, felt her heart lift for the first time in many years.

Natsu and Lucy's return had been surreal, Erza didn't feel like she did before the two had left. She was in disbelief, a bundle of confusion and didn't know if she should believe that they really were there.

But with that normal grin, not his famous one, not the one that he gave Lucy, not the one that he gave Erza when she made him happy, just a normal grin; she felt all that confusion disappear. Relief flooded through her body, truly crying in happiness for their return, not the tears of dozens of emotions she had shed when her two guild mates had first returned, just happiness.

Erza's knees gave way and she prepared to hit the hard dirt. But she felt a strong pair of arm catch her and hold her up, pulling her into a friendly hug. She cried again in happiness into Natsu's shoulder as he looked over to Lucy and Gray and saw Gray crying into Lucy's shoulder.

Natsu and his mate made eye contact and grinned at each other. Then they cracked up laughing, they didn't know what was so funny, probably the fact that they both had someone crying into their shoulder.

Natsu and Lucy found it very hard to stop laughing, so they eventually ended up letting go of Gray and Erza and fell to the ground, tears of mirth rolling down their faces. Erza and Gray looked into each other's puffy eyes and shrugged, waiting for Natsu and Lucy to stop laughing.

Eventually, their infectious laugh spread to Erza and Gray, who shared a chuckle, then a laugh, then they too were rolling on the ground in laughter. A few minutes later, the Mayor of the town walking in, curious to see the outcome of the fight.

But what he found was the four powerful mages laughing so hard that they couldn't stand. The Mayor shook his head and thought, _Fairy Tail is back to their old loud, destructive selves._

**A few hours later, standing in front of a house in the town.**

***Knock Knock* **Erza's knuckles wrapped on the wooden door of the large house. When there was no answer, Erza raised her hand to knock again.

She pulled back her wrist and the door flew open, showing a grumpy looked old man, who head was exactly where Erza was about to knock. ***crunch*** Erza's knuckles moved forward and collided with his forehead, knocking him out instantly.

Gray, Natsu and Lucy looked in shock that Erza had just hurt an innocent. Erza shrugged stoically and picked up the unconscious man. Pulling him by the shoulders, she dragged him into the house.

Once in the lounge, Erza dumped him into one of the couches and sat down, waiting and looking at the man expectantly. The other three of the newly reunited Team Natsu shook their heads and took seats as well. A few minutes later, the old man woke up, to see four mages looking at him with curious stares. He started to sweat under the intense gazes.

He saw the exposed Fairy Tail marks of Natsu and Lucy and visibly relaxed. "Oh, so that's why you are here." He got up and left the room and came back in with a large bag. "Here is your reward. May I ask who you mind reader or fortune teller is? It is quite interesting magic."

Team Natsu looked at the man blankly. "W-Why are you giving us the reward before we do the quest? And none of us use either of those types magic." Erza stuttered as she took the reward bag. "You didn't know that the mages I assigned you to capture were the ones you captured last night?" the man raised an eyebrow in question.

"Nope!" grinned Natsu making them all facepalm at his obliviousness. "Thank you anyway, those mages killed two of my children, admittedly indirectly but still. Not only that but they have killed many others from this town." Team Natsu looked at him, their gazes filled with sorry. Then Natsu growled, "Then they deserved much worse than what I gave them."

The man looked at him with surprise. "What do mean, what YOU gave them? Didn't you all help out?" "Nope! We got taken by surprise, so I took them all out!" Natsu grin came back. "H-How many were there?" the old man asked weakly.

Natsu put on a thoughtful expression, making Gray fake faint in surprise. "15 I think." The man really fainted. Erza decided that they should leave, and left a note to the old man along with half the reward (much to Lucy's displeasure).

The note explained why they felt guilty for not knowingly completing the request, which was why they left half the reward. When the man woke up, he saw the jewels scattered across the table along with a note. He smiled and said, "Fairy tail mages truly are great and powerful people, taking down 15 people with power levels just below wizard saints."

_**Thanks for reading! Oh, and the next chapter is 6,000 words, should I split it into two chapters? I could also add 2000 or so words and have a 4,000/4,000 thing. Thanks for reading again!**_


	7. Chapter 7

**ANNNDD here is Chapter 7, sorry I missed last week, my mind was frazzled from all the sweets I ate on my birthday and completely forgot to upload... . Anyway, 6,700 or so words... To much?**

"WE ARE BACK EVERYONE!" shouted Team Natsu as they walked through the guild's doors. They saw the guild gathered near the bar, looked up to the second floor where Laxus was standing.

The only strange things were that Mayuko was holding hands with Kyoko, and Pantherlily and Murica were sitting together. The guild turned and shushed them. "Wha-?" Natsu started but a chair was sent his way by an angry guild member.

Natsu was about to jump on him when Kyoko appeared behind Natsu and smashed him in the back of the head. "Mommy! Daddy!" Luna came running out of Mira's grip. Lucy picked her daughter up in a hug. "What's going on sweetie?" she asked, whispering into her daughter's ear with a humours air of secrecy.

Her daughter, matching her pretend secrecy, said "Something called an S-class tr- Tri- Tril?" Luna couldn't quite get the word, but Lucy was good at guessing by now. "Trial?" Lucy questioned, grinning into the little girl's ear.

"Yep!" replied Luna. "Then we need to be super quiet!" Lucy walked over to a bench and place Luna on her lap. She looked up to see the guild turning back to Laxus, who said. "This year, the participants for the late S-class trials are,"

"Levy McGarden." "Gi Hee!" chuckled Gajeel.

"Bisca Connell." "Go Mummy!" yelled Asuka.

"Elfman Strauss." "I'm a true man!" yelled Elfman, then he was hit by Evergreen.

"Bixlow." "Yay!" chanted his dolls.

"Lisanna Strauss." "You can do it Lisanna!" cheered Mira.

"Lyon." "Prove that you too are a disciple of Ur!" challenged Gray,

"Tokaji." His brown hair covered head jerked up in surprise. "You got in!" squealed Meredy.

"Alzack Connell." "Yay! Daddy!" cheered Asuka.

"Romeo Conbolt." "You can do it too, Meo!" said Wendy, using her boyfriend's nickname.

"Evergreen." "You're a man!" shouted Elfman. "I am not! I am a fairy. A FEMALE FAIRY!" screamed Evergreen in response.

"Freed. Well done buddy." Freed fainted at hearing Laxus say well done.

"Ultear." "I knew you would get in!" cheered Gray.

"Juvia." "Yay! We're both in it!" said Lyon and Juvia at the same time.

"Meredy." "Wha?" gasped Meredy in surprise. Tokaji grabbed her hands and spun her around him. "Yay! Well done Redy!"

"Natsu Dragneel." "About damn time!" yelled Natsu as he jumped up onto a table, only to be pulled back down into a kiss by Lucy.

"And finally, Lucy Heartf… no, Dragneel!" Lucy broke out of her kiss in surprise, only to be pulled back by Natsu.

"Why the hell wasn't I chosen!" shouted Mayuko, jumping up onto a table and letting go of Kyoko's hand. "We're still to young May." said Asuka. "They said that last year! Don't you care about being S-class?" raged Mayuko, her long orange hair flying everywhere. "C'mon May, don't say that! That's mean."

"Sorry." Mayuko mumbled, quietening down. "Hey you know what?" started Kyoko. Asuka and Mayuko looked up. "I'll train the both of you, so when you are old enough, you will get in for sure!" Asuka and Mayuko cheered together until Mayuko realised the guild was looking at them, and she returned to her stoic self, except for the blush of embarrassment on her small face. Laxus continued,

"This year's trials will take place in the forests outside Magnolia. And before anyone worries, Ultear has offered to repair the area using her time ark if anything happens. Two more things, the reason there are so many participants this year, is because instead of partnering with someone who wasn't picked in the trials, you will partner up with someone who was chosen. Also, two teams will be able to pass, so it is possible that when we come home, there will be four new S-class wizards!"

The guild cheered. Then Mayuko spoke up again, "Will we be able to watch this year?" Laxus looked away from everyone in thought and said, "I think, that because the trails will be so close, yes, everyone may come to watch." This made the guild start cheering even louder.

**A few days later.**

"Is everyone here?" Laxus shouted above the ruckus that was being created. The entire guild, with the exception of some S-class mages, was sitting in a clearing surrounded by viewing lacrimas. Laxus was standing near the group that was entering the trials this year.

Laxus sent and zap of lightning into the sky, a loud thunderclap was heard and everyone jumped in shock **(A/N No pun intended)**.

"Now stay quiet." boomed Laxus. "Call if you are here. Levy!" "Yes!" "Romeo!" "Yes!" "Bisca!" "Yes!" "Alzack!" "Yes!" "Elfman!" "Man!" "Evergreen!" "Yes!" "Bixlow!" "Ya!" "Freed!" "Yes!" "Lisanna!" "Yes!" "Ultear!" "Yes!" "Lyon!" "Yes!" "Juvia!" "Yes!" "Tokaji!" "Yeah!" "Meredy!" "Yes!" "Natsu!" "Yo!" "Lucy!" "Mama's here!" piped up Luna.

"Good, then that's everyone. Now separate into your pairs." Levy went to stand with Romeo, Bisca with Alzack, Elfman with Evergreen, Bixlow and Freed, Lisanna went to Ultear, Lyon and Juvia started smooching, Tokaji swaggered over to a giggling Meredy, and Natsu was with Lucy to begin with.

"Ok! Here is what you have to do. I will teleport you somewhere, and it is a race to see who will get back here first, you can fight each other, hinder each other, just don't kill each other." With that, Laxus used his lightning magic and teleported the teams to random places throughout the forest.

**With Natsu and Lucy**

***Zap*** Natsu and Lucy stumbled a little bit from the change of ground beneath their feet. "How do you think we should do this? I want to give the others a chance." Natsu asked.

Lucy knew he wasn't being cocky, just thinking about others, something that would surprise many guild members. "Hmm.. I will limit myself to only celestial magic, wait no, only celestial keys. What about you?"

"Limiting is a good idea, soooooooo…" Natsu pondered in silence. Then Lucy suggested, "I know, how about you only use your red flames and none of your secret arts?"

"Sounds good. Let's go!" They looked at each other blankly for a second before Lucy sighed. "I got it." Lucy reached into her magic to call out to her spirit. _Open, gate of the wolf, gate of the Horse, Canaci, Pegasus! _A black wolf and a large, white, winged horse appeared in front of her.

"Hello Hime." The Canaci barked while Pegasus neighed. "Hello, Canaci, locate Luna, do you remember her scent?"

"Of course!" He barked. The wolf put his snout into the air, then turned his head to the north-east. "That way Hime." He woofed. "Thank you Canaci, you may go back," Lucy turned to Pegasus while Canaci disappeared in a flash.

"Pegasus, do you know what to do?" The horse bowed gracefully and said, in a much smoother and mature voice than Canaci, "Of course Hime."

The horse dropped to its knees and allowed Natsu and Lucy to climb on. Once they were situated firmly between his wings and neck, he opened his large wings and took off. They picked up pace until normal human eyes wouldn't be able to focus on the ground.

Within minutes, they had travelled over 15km and were gliding gracefully into the clearing. The crowd cheered loudly, but louder than anyone was Luna, Murica and Kyoko. Pegasus landed regally and bent down to allow Natsu and Lucy to dismount. Luna came running over to her parents yelling, "Mummy! Daddy! Horsey!"

The two parents chuckled at her new word and Natsu picked her up, spinning her around. Fairy Tail looked fondly at the giggling 4-year-old and the grinning young father. Everyone was laughing, except for someone, who let out a sob. Most who heard the sob looked around, wondering who could have sobbed in such a happy moment. "I-I-You."

A voice cracked from near Laxus. A short old man stood next to Laxus, who was comforting the old man. "Yes, yes, it's really them Gramps." Makarov just kept on crying. Lucy looked over and Natsu stopped swinging Luna around.

Slowly, Natsu put Luna into Kyoko's hands, and used his fire to boost himself towards the old man, tackling him into a rough hug. "Gramps." He whispered. Not long behind Natsu was Lucy, running towards the 3rd and 6th Fairy Tail master.

The two of them gripped the poor old man into a choking hug. Makarov was sobbing, Lucy was apologizing, while Natsu was comforting both of them. Luna came over to the old man and pointed a small, chubby finger at Makarov. Makarov looked at the small (about his size) version of Lucy who was pointing an almost accusing finger at him.

Her face scrunched up in concentration. "Gramps." She squeaked. Lucy and Makarov started tearing up again while Natsu said proudly, "She got that word very quickly!" A few more minutes of calming down later, and Tokaji and Meredy showed up, Meredy had used her sense link to find out where everyone was and Tokaji had used "Meteor" for himself and Meredy.

They got second place. A few more minutes later arrived Romeo and Levy, surprising Natsu and Lucy. They were riding on a large blanket of what looked like Magma. After them came Lisanna and Ultear. Lisanna had used her bird-form while Ultear had used her orb to survey the landscape and had quickly found where to go.

Next came Evergreen and Elfman, having had a lucky guess as to which way Evergreen would fly them. Juvia and Lyon came next, having used Lyon's "Ice Make Eagle" to get a bird's eye view, they performed a unison raid to send them flying inside a protective ball of water and ice.

Finally, Bixlow and Freed arrived at the same time as Alzack and Bisca, Freed having used his runes then they flew quickly on Bixlow's dolls. While Alzack and Bisca had also done a unison raid to send fast and powerful shots, basically making them a jet back while using their deduction skills to decide which way to go. Laxus stood up, "Good, you all made it. If you hadn't made it before the sun set," at this point he gestured towards the setting sun, "you wouldn't have made it into the next round. The next round is similar to Tenrou Island."

"There will be eight paths, and your team will choose one. The S-class mages will be teleported randomly into the tunnels, you might face all of them, or none. This is as much about luck as skill. Also, the S-class mages will be teleported anywhere inside the tunnel, anywhere from the very beginning to the very end, so be prepared."

After he had finished speaking, he waved a hand over the group of already S-class mages that had been huddling together. They disappeared in a flash of lightning, then Laxus turned back to the participants and said, "When we get there, the pecking order is the order of which people arrived in the clearing the fastest. So Natsu and Lucy first. Freed and Bixlow, figure out who will chose first between you two and Alzack and Bisca."

With that, he waved his hand and they felt themselves being turned to lightning and teleported away. ***Zap*** They appeared outside 8 cave entrances. "I guess we're first." said Lucy and she extended her hand.

A golden console appeared and she started tapping away. "Wow Lu-Chan! You use archive magic?" questioned Levy. Lucy jumped away from the console like it had shocked her and shouted "Damn it! I wasn't supposed to do that."

"What is it Lu-chan?" questioned Levy again. Lucy looked at Natsu guiltily, then back at Levy. "I was supposed to limit myself to just celestial keys." She said sheepishly. "Why Lucy-san?" questioned Meredy this time.

Lucy stuttered "N-no reason." and started pulling Natsu into the closest cave, which happened to be cave number 7. "Ooookay then. We choose this one!" shouted Meredy as she jumped towards cave number 1.

"Which one Levy?" Romeo asked politely. Levy pondered for a moment then said "I think this one is the safest." Levy pointed towards Cave number 6. "Okay then!" cheered Romeo as he fist pumped and ran towards cave number 5. "Romeo! Wrong one! This one!" Levy yelled to him and he turned quickly, turning red because of his embarrassment.

They ran into the cave and disappeared. "Lucky guess Ultear?" said Lisanna, giving the choice to her elder. "This one!" and they ran down cave number 3. "Being fifth is a Man!" Elfman yelled. Evergreen turned him to stone and started dragging him down cave 4, turning him back once they were swallowed by the darkness.

"Us now?" Juvia questioned. "Juvia and Lyon will go down this path!" Lyon said. Juvia's way of speaking had infected him many years ago. "Juvia agrees!" the water woman shouted and they ran down cave 8. "You two can go before us." mumbled Alzack and Bisca, both of them still wallowing in depression from coming last.

Freed nodded and led Bixlow towards the cave his runes were pointing to. They disappeared down cave 2, which left the married couple with cave 5. They shared a quick kiss then ran off into the dark tunnel.

**In Cave Number 1**

"How are you going Meredy?" Tokaji asked, lighting their way with his light magic. "I'm fine, because you're here." They shared a quick kiss but were broken apart by a gruff voice. "Sorry you interrupt you two lovebirds." Gajeel stepped out of the shadows. "I won't go easy."

He punched the ground and massive poles of hardened iron came out from beneath the Tokaji and Meredy. "Meteor!" shouted Tokaji, making the two of them flash around to behind Gajeel where Meredy sent some nerve swords then a sense link at him.

Gajeel dodged the swords, but got hit by the sense link. Before either Meredy or Tokaji could make their next move, Gajeel turned the arm which had the sense link to iron, then snapped his arm off, making all three of them groan in pain.

Gajeel channelled more energy into his damaged pole of iron, and made it whole again. He then turned it back into his normal arm, leaving him completely unharmed and the sense link gone. "You should use that attack more carefully, Pinky. Only use it as a last resort if you are fighting." Gajeel advised, he would never admit it, but he always had a kind spot for people who showed affection openly to others.

He guessed it was probably because that was what he was never given during most of his life, and he wished that someone would show him that love, which Levy did. While he was deep in his thoughts, he was still very aware of what was going on around him. Tokaji flew up into the air, raced around for a bit, then shouted "Grand Chairot!"

Gajeel's eyes widened at the sound of the powerful spell. He had not expected Tokaji to be able to cast it yet. "Karma Demon: Demon Logs!"

Small, sharp pieces of Iron flew from his hand, heading towards Tokaji. Before they hit, his arm jerked away. Meredy stood there in a battle stance, having sent a sword into the nerves in Gajeel's shoulder, making him miss.

Tokaji completed his spell, and the powerful attack rushed towards Gajeel. "Heavenly Palm! Heaven's breakdown!" he yelled again, dropping down to Gajeel. The three attacks hit Gajeel at the same time as he created an Iron shield and activated his Iron scales.

Gajeel was sent flying, but not too badly injured. Tokaji was only just holding himself up after using so much of his magic. He started to fall but was caught be Meredy. He grinned at her. "You shouldn't put so much power into your first attack," a voice came out of the rubble Gajeel had been thrown into, "Always measure your opponent first, understand their attacks, their defences, their weaknesses and strengths."

Meredy looked at the fearsome figure of the Iron dragon covered in scales, she gasped at the fact that Tokaji's attacks had barely harmed him at all. Then she saw him holding his shoulder strangely. It was the shoulder she had attacked before. She gasped in understanding then gently laid the panting Tokaji on the ground.

She raised her hands, then sent over a hundred sense swords towards Gajeel, who dodged all of them. She attacked again, and again, and again. She was reaching the end of her magic power when she got an idea. She made sure she had shown no change in expression before attacking again. This time, she created a few swords behind Gajeel as well.

Gajeel dodged all the ones Meredy had sent from the front and was about to attack when he felt incredible pain in his left calf, right hip and right shoulder. He saw a couple of swords miss him and carry on towards Meredy, who made them disappear.

Gajeel dropped to his knees in pain, then stood back up hissing, and wobbling on his feet. He jumped back so he was standing next to the cave wall. (**A/N, Tokaji is still lighting up the cave) **

The Iron dragon slayer thrust his hand into the wall, then withdrew it holding a clump of Iron. "Well done girly, you pass." He growled while eating the Iron. Meredy jumped up and down and ran squealing to her boyfriend, who was grinning at her. "Good fight you two." Growled Gajeel, "Meredy, work on you magic power as well, but mainly the accuracy of your swords. You may want to talk to Erza for that."

Meredy shuddered at the mention of training with Erza. "Tokaji, work on your magic power, your defence, your brute strength and your battle perception." Tokaji peered at Gajeel, hoping that he would suggest someone to train with, Gajeel said nothing for a moment, then sighed, "I guess I can help you with that." Tokaji blinked.

"Huh?"

"Are you an idiot?" growled Gajeel, "I said I will train you in fighting for a bit, instead of being taught how to run away by blue-haired-fancy-pants." Tokaji blinked again.

Meredy thanked Gajeel for his rare advice and accept the offer to train Tokaji for him. Meredy dragged the frozen Tokaji out of the cave and continued down the tunnel, hoping that they would meet no more resistance.

They had been walking for about 5 minutes when the ground started to shake, and the felt an incredible magical presence. The presence started forcing them to the ground. Just before the two of them hit the floor, the pressure increased tenfold.

They were slammed into the hard earth with incredible force. The two mages felt their eardrums about to burst, then, the pressure stopped. Once Meredy and Tokaji recovered slightly, picking themselves off the ground, they heard a mighty roar. The roar sounded like the roar of a dragon.

**With Freed and Bixlow in cave 2**

"Why this one Freed?" question Bixlow as the entered cave number 2. "Why? Why?" chanted Bixlow's dolls. "My runes told me that out of the two left, the threat was the lowest." "Oh, ok." "Ok! Ok!" echoed the dolls to their master's response.

The cave got darker and darker until they had to sort something out. "Stay still." Freed ordered. He drew some runes on his and Bixlow's arms that allowed them night vision. "Cheers bud." "Bud, bud, bud." Freed gritted his teeth at his new nickname.

"Please refrain from calling me that." "Sure… Bud." Bixlow let his tongue roll out. Freed tried to keep his cool but lost it and was about to yell at his friend when his dolls chanted "Bud, bud, bud, bud." "You-."

"Hey you two!" a feminine, slurred voice interrupted them. "What was that I heard about being less threatening? Who was down the other one?" Freed shuddered and said "Erza." Bixlow and Cana felt sorry for Alzack and Bisca.

"Mountain! Monster! Earth! Blood! Nature!" Cana yelled, holding five cards, "Summon rock golem!" a huge golem burst out of ground near Freed and Bixlow, who were both impressed at her 5-card combo. They both knew it was a huge thing to achieve for card magic users.

The golem charged at the two thunder god tribe members, throwing earth at them. "Prayers fountain! Ocean! Nature! Waves!" she held up four cards, "Summon water golem!" she yelled. A flood of water appeared to flow out of the cards.

The water formed into the shape of a golem just as the earth golem's attack reached Freed and Bixlow. "Meson formation!" a burst of light over 5 times as big as hit Baryon formation hit the earth golem, while Freed through high-strength runes at the ground in front of the water golem.

Bixlow's attack successfully hit the powerful golem, creating a large hole in the centre of the golem's chest. The earth beast roared and rocks and dirt from around the creature flew towards it, repairing it.

The golem attacked again, sending a fearsome fist towards Bixlow, sending him flying back into a wall. Effectively knocking him out. Freed turned around, surprised at the power Cana held. "How did you get this powerful?" he asked Cana.

"I thought you would have noticed that Laxus and I disappeared for 6 months at the same time." Freed raised his eyebrows. He had noticed that Laxus had disappeared a year or so ago, as well as Cana, however he didn't think that the two were connected.

"I noticed, just didn't think that you two were going to the same place." Cana giggled, stopping the attacks of her two golems. "We had been dating for 2 years, we left on a long job on the same day, and we returned on the same day, and you didn't think that it was connected? He trained me for about 4 months after finishing the job."

Freed looked away, embarrassed because of his mistake. Then Cana added something which made his strict mind crumble and he fainted, she said "He trained me in magic and in bed." Cana giggled at the fainted Freed and made her golems disappear.

She fell to her knees, starting to feel the loss of her magic power. She struggled upright and dragged herself over to Freed and placed him in a deep sleep, then did the same to Bixlow. There was a cackle of thunder and a bright flash of light.

Laxus stood before Cana, looking proud. "Well done Cana." He voiced his pride. He walked over to Bixlow and dragged him out of the wall. Once the unconscious figure was next to Freed, Laxus gave Cana a quick kiss, grabbed her hand and waved his free hand over Freed and Bixlow, teleporting them back to the clearing.

He then followed, with Cana holding onto his hand. When they arrived in the clearing, Cana was bombarded with congratulations and comments of awe. Waving them all off, she went and sat down next to Laxus to watch the rest of the participants.

Before she could even look at the lacrima screen, the ground started shaking as if there was an earthquake and leaves started falling form the trees. There was a massive pillar of white flame and then the sound of a fearsome roar, a dragons roar. **(A/N The reason they don't feel any magical force is because they are too far away from the source.)**

**With Ultear and Lisanna in Cave 3**

"So how is Bixlow?" teased Ultear. Lisanna flushed a brilliant red and stuttered, "I-I-We-I." Ultear grinned. "Has he asked you out yet?" Lisanna, if possible, turned even redder.

Ultear was about to tease her more when she saw a small tear roll down the white-haired takeover mage's cheek. Ultear was horrified, she had never meant to make the girl cry. Lisanna looked up with teary eyes at the woman that had been her role model for the past couple of years.

Lisanna turned away and knelt to the ground, sobbing quietly. She felt thin but strong arms wrap around her. Lisanna looked up to see Ultear, her eyes full of regret.

"I'm sorry." Ultear whispered. "Tell me everything." Ultear whispered again. Lisanna said in a shaky voice, "I-I don't know, I-I m-mean he acts really nice around me, b-but I think he just wants to be friends. And everyone is trying to get us together, but whenever someone does, he just leaves."

"Everyone thinks that." Ultear advised.

"What?"

"Most people think that the person they like thinks of them as a friend, you just have to be confident." Really?" questioned Lisanna, perking up. "Yeah. I thought the same way as you, but about Gray." Ultear said with a small smile. "Now up you get. We have to be ready in case we have to fight."

"Yeah!" Lisanna jumped up and started practically skipping further into the cave, drying off her face with a huge smile on her face. Her happiness was infecting and Ultear felt her heart become lighter, she was still feeling guilty about making her cry.

They continued on down the tunnel, and they both thought they must be reaching the end soon as they had been walking quickly for about 20 minutes. They saw a small circle of light coming from what looked to be the end of the tunnel. They wanted to run to it and get out of the dark cave, but they knew that someone might be waiting for them to do just that.

So they kept on at the same pace with their senses on high alert. They were metres away from the exit when the ground started to shake, both going into battle stances. They felt huge amounts of magic power flood over them.

Just as they felt their legs give way, the pressure increased by a substantial amount. They crashed to the ground. Then the pressure stopped and a roar echoed through the forest, the roar of a dragon.

**In cave 4, with Elfman and Evergreen**

"Being turned into stone is NOT a man!"

"Shut up you idiot."

"I am not an idiot! I am a man!" Elfman roared.

"Arghhh!" Evergreen practically screamed. "Why are you so obsessed with being manly! You never show any affection to me, even though we are publicly dating! You are so annoying!" She stormed further into the tunnel, using her magic to light the way.

Elfman was standing as though Evergreen had turned him back into a statue, which she hadn't. Evergreen had been storming into the cave for about 5 minutes when she heard the pounding of large feet. She whirled around to see Elfman diving at her, his hair covering his eyes.

Evergreen tried to catch Elfman but his weight was too much, and they rolled onto the ground, leaving both him and Evergreen unharmed from the tackle. They were now sitting across from each other, holding each other's shoulders.

"Ever." He whispered in a cracking voice. Evergreen was shocked to see tears running down his face. "When Lisanna died…" his voice disappeared, and Evergreen looked at her boyfriend with shocked but soft eyes.

"Shh…" she comforted him, "you don't have to…" "No. No its ok, I want to." Elfman whispered in a stronger voice.

"When I thought she died, I blamed myself for not being strong enough. Not on the outside, but on the inside. It is a man's job to protect his family, and I had to convince myself that I still was a man, for Mira-nee. It became a stupid habit of saying it out loud, a stupid, annoying habit. I'll try to stop. Sorry"

"No." said Evergreen in an equally quiet voice. "No, I'm sorry. I should have gotten annoyed at you. It was just different, and I teased you for it. I'm so sorry." Evergreen started crying as well.

They leaned towards each other, each eyeing off the others lips. Their lips were centimetres from each other, when Elfman grabbed the back of Evergreen's head, and smashed her lips into his. Everyone back in the clearing watching the two cheered.

Wendy, who had been kept back in case she was needed to heal someone, fainted with hearts in her eyes. **(A/N Remember that Wendy a matchmaker like Mira now.)** Evergreen was shocked at his direct approach at their first kiss.

After a while, she melted into the kiss and started pushing back against Elfman. They pulled apart and looked into each other's eyes. "Thank you." Elfman murmured. "For what?" questioned Evergreen.

"Understanding." and with that, Elfman picked up a squeaking Evergreen and started running. They ran through the rest of the tunnel with no more distractions. They were reaching the very end when they felt an overwhelming magical presence, forcing even Elfman to his knees.

Then another wave of pressure flooded over them, far outweighing the first. They were forced into the ground, which started shaking. Then, suddenly, it stopped, and there was a fearsome roar, the roar of a dragon.

**With Alzack and Bisca**

"I feel horrible." Bisca said sadly. "I know, I was barely able to look at Asuka." Alzack nodded in depressed agreement. "You two shouldn't be so hard on yourselves." A strong feminine voice sounded throughout the tunnel.

Both Alzack and Bisca felt their hope of become S-class crashing to the ground. The two of them looked in horror as Erza stepped out of the shadows. "Show me what you have got. Fight me, prove yourself to Asuka."

Alzack and Bisca gasped as she hit the nail right on the head, they were just trying to make their daughter proud. "Come on. Now!" she ordered.

Alzack and Bisca drew their guns. "Piercing shot!" yelled Bisca, aiming her sniper rifle at Erza while Alzack shouted "Scatter shot!" Erza requiped a basic sword and deflected Bisca's powerful attack, then requiped into her black wing armour and flew out of the way of Alzack's attack. "You need to attack faster!" Erza advised. "Never give your opponent a chance to recover!"

She attacked, using the flat side of the blade, she hit Alzack on the side of the head, knocking him out immediately. She turned to Bisca who slowly requiped a shotgun, "Bisca, you need to increase your requiping speed."

Erza shot forward, not giving Bisca enough time to even shoot. Erza used her fist to smash the green-haired girl in the temple, giving the hit enough power to knock her out, but not enough to give her a headache.

Erza looked at the two fondly and pulled out one of Cana's cards. She contacted Laxus who teleported to her, and took them all back. Once back in the clearing, Asuka ran up to her unconscious parents, crying and babbling about being proud already.

When Alzack and Bisca woke to their daughter's crying face, they assumed the worst. They turned away from their daughter, keeping their heads down in shame. That is, until Erza forcibly grabbed both of their heads and turned them to face Asuka, who explained that she couldn't be any prouder of her parents.

Surprising everyone, Erza said, "Alzack, Bisca, I know how much what she thinks means to you, and no matter what she says you will always try to impress her." Alzack and Bisca were nodding their heads. "Alzack, Bisca, would you like me to train you?" Most standing people fell over, many turned pale, and people sitting on the ground felt their jaws hit the dirt.

Alzack and Bisca looked at Erza with hopeful eyes. They were about to reply when they felt the ground shaking, and leaves started falling from the trees. Then a massive pillar of fire burst from the forest, accompanied by a roar, a dragon's roar.

**With Levy and Romeo in cave 6**

"So why did you choose this one Levy?" Romeo questioned. "I deducted that this one would be the safest." Romeo shook his head at Levy's skill.

They walked peacefully, in the silence of the cave, each of them absorbed in their own thoughts. Romeo was thinking about the time, 5 years ago, when he had asked Wendy out.

**~Flashback~**

It had been a few weeks since that man from the council had come to Fairy Tail, and the rowdy guild was only just getting over the silence they had held for so long. When at the guild, people only spoke when they ordered drinks, or accepted quests.

The Master had resigned, passing the responsibility of leading down to his grandson, Laxus, who was proving to be a wise leader. Makarov had said that he did not have the confidence to make decisions anymore.

He had convinced himself that he let Lucy and Natsu leave which lead to their death. He decided that he would travel around Fiore one last time. Wendy had taken the loss harder than most, thinking that if she could have healed Natsu, none of this would have happened.

She had spent most of the time in the guild library, constantly researching about healing spells. Romeo had followed her into the library one day, and saw the huge pile of books she had gone through.

Knowing that he couldn't change her mind about her guilt, what Romeo did was comfort her, get her food, and support her. He would chase off anyone from the guild who tried to stop her from training, telling them to leave her be.

This had gone on for a few months, until Gajeel had come back from an S-class quest, almost dead. He had gone with Levy and taken a powerful hit for her, then continued to fight. His wounded had opened more and more, making him lose most of his blood. Levy had created a stretcher and managed to bring him back to the guild.

Wendy had healed him, surprising everyone, including Porlyusica but excluding Romeo, at the strength of her healing spell and the length at which she kept it up. After that, she had gone back to her old self, shy and hesitant as always.

Romeo still hung around her, comforting her if her darker thoughts were to bug her. Romeo could still remember how nervous he was when he asked her out. It had been a normal day, one of the first in a long time.

Wendy arrived early, Romeo not much later. They had talked until lunch, gone on a job to help out at 8-island, then come back to see a guild brawl. They had talked again, and then it was time to go home. Romeo had offered to walk Wendy to Fairy Hills. They had been walking in awkward silence, when Romeo had said, "Oh stuff this, Wendy, wanna go out with me?" Wendy blushed so much Romeo comically thought her head was going to explode because of blood pressure.

"Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Yes."

"YES!" Romeo jumped around in joy. They had spent the rest of the walk talking about where they were going to go and other petty things.

After they had said good bye and were out of each other's sight they both jumped up and down, Romeo fist pumping while Wendy squealing.

**~Flashback End~**

Romeo smiled fondly at the memory and went over a few others in his mind. Their first date, their first kiss, their first public kiss, their first make out session.

Levy looked at him quizzically and was about to ask why he was smiling so creepily when the ground started to shake ferociously. Then a flood of magic washed over them, forcing them to the shaking ground. It was as if someone was using gravity magic against them.

They felt the pressure lift for a second, then slam them back down with far more force. Romeo felt his knee's sinking into the ground, and then the pressure was disappeared again.

A roar ripped through the cave, making their eardrum vibrate. The roar reminded them of Natsu, it was the roar of a dragon.

**With Juvia and Lyon in cave 8**

"Juvia wonders if we will fight anyone." Juvia pondered to her Fiancé. "Hmmm... Lyon wonders that as well." Lyon responded "Juvia is glad that Lyon speaks like her."

"Lyon is glad Juvia thinks that." Lyon smiled warmly at her. They continued such petty talk, and then the ground started to shake furiously. Rocks fell from the ceiling, dust went everywhere, and magic pressure started to suffocate the two mages.

The pressure was even greater than Mayuko's, and they could tell it was not gravity or pressure magic, just pure magic power. They were shocked at the raw power, Lyon remembered Jura releasing his magic, and what he felt then could not even hold a candle to what he was feeling now.

Juvia remembered when Jose had released his magic power, he was very angry at her. She had failed on one her missions and Fairy Tail had found out. He had released his magic and forced her to the ground. But she had been his target and was channelling his energy so she would feel even more pressure. But all that pressure was nothing, nothing one the pressure she could feel now, and whoever was realising it wasn't even channelling it!

Then, quite simply, it disappeared. The two mages gasped in a breath. They weren't prepared for what happened next. A new pressure washed over them. This was even more powerful than the previous wave. The air was crushed from their lungs, and a heat washed over them. They started sweating from the heat while struggling to breathe.

The intense heat pressured them further, combining with the magic they felt. Then it stopped, the heat vanished, and the pressure dissipated. The two mages looked at each other in fear, wondering what was going on and what would come next. Pure, undulated fear spread through Juvia's veins when she heard a roar, a roar of a dragon.

**So how was it? To long? Please R&R!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey guys, I no longer have a backlog of chapters… so I might start missing some weeks. Thanks again to Ella Daniels for the masses of constructive stuff. Hiro Mashima owns FT. Hahaahaha, litterally the same minute that I uploaded this chapter, Ella Daniels reviewed again. To answer your questions, there were different viewing Lacrimas showing different people, no-one knows that Lucy and Natsu are holding back, only Laxus and Erza are Wizard Saints, and yeah, the S-class mages are: Gildarts, Laxus, Erza, Mira, Jellal, Gajeel, Gray, Cana, Wendy, and Roka. Oh yeah, and check out my new Fanfic, "The Yellow and White Angels".How to pronounce the names of the OCs: **

**-Mayuko, May-you-ko.**

**- Murica, Mur-riss-ar**

**- Tokaji, Tok-a-zhe**

**- Kyoko, Coy-ok-o**

**With Natsu and Lucy in cave 7**

"I shouldn't have done that." Lucy said, twisting her hands nervously. "I broke our promise, and I never want to break my promises." "Lucy." Natsu said, sliding Lucy's hand into his. "It was just habit, you didn't do it consciously. Just like when you punched me in your sleep after you promised not to hit me for a week after getting me with that Galaxy Impact spell." He chuckled at the memory.

Lucy looked at him, then let out a giggle and felt much better. "Sorry about that." Natsu dismissed her apology with a wave of her hand. "It's fine. Did you find anything out from your archive?" Lucy giggled again, and then said. "You want to fight right?"

"Of course!" exclaimed Natsu. "Then wait for another 5 or so minutes, you will smell them soon." Natsu looked at her jealously because she had better smell than him. "No time for that!" he picked her up bridal style, gave her a quick kiss, then used his flames to make dragon wings out of solid fire.

His wings flapped once, sending them down the tunnel at incredible speeds. Lucy giggled constantly, making Natsu chuckle. They reached the entrance to a point in the cave where it widened. In the middle of the large, open, underground area stood 5 mages, Mira, Gildarts, Roka, Jellal and Gray. They looked up at Natsu and Lucy.

"Stay there Natsu." said Gildarts. "We are talking to Laxus about changing this, it's not fair if you fight us all."

"But we want to!" complained Lucy, surprising the present S-class mages.

"Y-You WANT to fight us?" asked Gildarts weakly. "Yeah!" cheered Natsu, which made all the S-class mages sweatdrop. "But there are 5 of us." said Gildarts. "So what? If the flame-brain gets hurt who cares?"

"WAIT JUST ONE SECOND!" yelled Natsu, he then urgently whispered in Lucy's ear, "Am I allowed to use all my magic?" Lucy giggled at his antics and said, loud enough for everyone to hear, "OK, but leave some of them for me."

Natsu put Lucy down and straightened up. "Come at me." he said, surprising everyone. "Enough of your cockiness Natsu." Gildarts growled. Natsu looked at the man calmly, "Am I cocky? Cocky would be saying that my win is guaranteed, no, I'm just confident."

Gildarts growled again and released his magic. The raw power forcing Gray, Mira and Roka to their knees, while Natsu and Lucy were still standing. Gildarts frowned and started directing his magic towards Natsu. Natsu dropped to his knees, making Gildarts smirk.

However that smirk disappeared when he heard a chuckle. "Hehehe, PSYCHE!" Natsu yelled, jumping up, scaring the hell out of Gildarts and Jellal, who was having trouble standing. "My turn!" Natsu said cheerful. "Me too!" chimed in Lucy.

They stood together and released their magic, their clothes billowing around them, the ground shaking and the wall of magic hit the 5 mages like a tsunami wave. They didn't direct the force of their magic like Gildarts had, but still, for only the second time in the crash mages' life, he began to feel overpowered. Mira, Roka, Gildarts, Jellal, and Gray were forced to kneel by the raw power that Natsu and Lucy were showing off.

"This is boring." Natsu said. He stopped releasing his magic by turning it into a roar, the magic was to infused into the environment to suck it back into his body. His roar was a massive pillar of white flame that he released into the sky.

The roar was around 20 meters wide and the heat given off was incredible. Lucy released her magic by sending her magic to the spirit world, where it would serve as a power up for the next time she called on her spirits. The S-class mages found that they could breathe again, as they had been suffocating in the pure magic.

They all drew in a gasping breath and lay panting on the ground underneath a large hole in the roof of the cave. "Let's fight!" cheered Natsu. Gray glared at him, and started to pull himself up. The rest of the S-class wizards followed Gray's movements, before long, all 5 of them were standing in their battle stances. Gildarts and Roka moved towards Lucy, while Jellal, Gray and Mira moved towards Natsu.

**With Lucy**

"When did the two of you get so powerful?" asked Gildarts. "That's for us to know," Lucy giggled teasingly. "Haha, the look on your face! We just trained every day, or at least Natsu did, I didn't while I was pregnant. You're Roka right? We've never met before!" Roka just grunted. "Just like Gajeel I see." teased Lucy.

Roka just grunted again. "Enough of this." Gildarts said forcefully. "I want to see how much you have improved." With that he sent a net of his crash magic towards Lucy, who stuck out her hand. A ball of pure magic energy formed in Lucy's hand, making the pressure in the now open ceiling cave unbearable.

The attack hit the ball of energy, which expanded as it absorbed Gildarts's magic. Gildarts smirked and clenched his fist, expecting for the ball of condensed magic to explode. To his surprise, nothing happened. Now it was Lucy's turn to smirk at the confused look on Gildarts's face. "Pure magic cannot be destroyed, or separated, only changed."

With that she sent the ball of pressure towards Gildarts and Roka. They dodged and the energy hit the wall of the cavern behind them, blowing it up. Lucy smirked, "Ok, lets fight for real now! Don't you dare hold back!" Gildarts and Roka complied, attacking Lucy with a multitude of attacks. Gildarts sent a few nets of crash magic at her while Roka sent his "Roar of the Earth Dragon!"

The two S-class wizards were worried the attack was going to harm her as she wasn't moving. When the attacks reached her, they passed straight through her, leaving her unscathed, much to the astonishment of Gildarts and Roka.

Lucy giggled, "My spirit body allows me to pass through a ton of things, even Freed's runes! Now time to fight! Star!" she yelled at the end, her body glowing with white light. "Star Dragons…" Gildarts and Roka tensed, expecting a roar or something.

What they heard astounded them. "Wings, Talons, Tail!" Their eyes almost popped out of their head as talons, wings and a tail colored dark blue with white specks, came out of her body. "My mother was a dragon." She said simply like it was a normal thing.

_Open 10 gates of the spirit nobles, Zodiac._ 10 blobs of golden light appeared around her, and from those balls of light formed into her 10 zodiac spirits. Gildarts and Roka let their jaws drop, 10 zodiacs at once! _How powerful is this girl?_ They thought.

Lucy grinned at the length between the top and bottom of their jaws. _Why not? _She thought. _Open gate of the elements, Fire, Water, Earth, Air!_ Four more spirits appeared, they looked at Gildarts and Roka, letting their spirit magic ooze out of their skin. "UNSION RAID!" Lucy yelled!

She and her spirits formed a circle, all chanting the same thing. "**_1 wizard, 10 zodiacs, 4 elements. We call upon the power of the universe, from the limitless stars in the sky, we summon their power of all spirits. Spiritual JUDGMENT!_**

A massive group of miniature stars the size of her head. There were thousands upon thousands of stars, so many, that they filled the cavern from just above the mage's heads right up to the ceiling, and threatening to spill out the hole that Natsu had created.

Roka and Gildarts felt their breathe catch in their throats at the raw power coming from the spell. Gildarts had never been afraid, even when he was fighting Acnologia, but right now, he felt fear. Pure and unforgiving fear of this young, blonde mage.

Lucy's spirits started pulsing, and growing bigger, then they jumped into the cloud of stars and disappeared, leaving Lucy standing beneath her spell. Her hands were in the air, her eyes had magic circles within them and they snapped down from the cloud to look at the two cowering S-class mages. She slashed her hands down, leaving an X shape of light, then her spell attacked.

It shot itself towards Gildarts and Roka, who tried frantically to block, dodge, or even attack the spell. Lucy smirked, knowing that they could do nothing, this spell was the ultimate spell, lost in time. It had been forbidden by all the spirits many eons ago, but they had held a vote, a vote to see if they should allow Lucy to use the spell.

If even one of the thousands of spirits said no, then she would not be allowed. But the tales of her kindness and respect had flown throughout the spirit world, and not one spirit resisted. Every single spirit trusted Lucy with this spell. It was unstoppable. The thousands of attacks battered Gildarts and Roka, sucking away their magic power and leaving them with wounds that would continue to bleed until the caster healed them.

By the end of the barrage Lucy saw a small crater where Gildarts and Roka were lying, unconscious. Back at the clearing, the guild was amazed by the power they had FELT! They had felt the power of Lucy's attacks all the way from the clearing, she had taken out two of the strongest mages in the guild and made it look easy while she was at it!

There was a deathly silence, until Luna said, "Mummy's strong!" This opened the floodgates, jealous comments, awe filled comments, unbelieving comments and many others were thrown around the clearing. Erza sat in shock and remembered the words Lucy had said when she had first come back, _"Yep, but I'm still not as strong as Natsu."_ Erza felt more blood leave her face. _Just how strong is Natsu?_ She turned to one of the Lacrima following Natsu and she saw…

**With Natsu**

"Natsu." growled Gray with a menacing tone. Jellal and Mira stood on either side of the Ice mage. Jellal entered is Meteor form, and Mira transformed into her Sitri form. "Cutting straight to the chase are we?" Natsu asked. Gray growled again and focused his jealous rage into power.

He felt himself gaining more and more power, until he entered Dragon Force. "Dragon Force Gray? It took that long for you to activate it?" _Flame Drive, Lightning Flame Dragon Mode. _"I can beat that thing you call the force of a dragon without even using a true dragons power." Gray growled at Natsu's teasing.

"Ice Dragon's Roar!" Gray thundered as a massive torrent of ice flew from his mouth, ripping up the ground on its way to Natsu, "Hell's Wrath!" called Mirajane, and an orange stream erupted from her hands, which were joined at the wrist. "Grand Chariot!" Natsu heard Jellal yell from above him.

Natsu took a deep breath and adjusted his stance, flames and lightning flickering around his body. _Platonic explosion of the lighting-flam- __**"NATSU! Don't use that spell! It will hurt Luna!" **_Lucy's voice echoed through his mind, he stopped the spell and looked over to Lucy, who had Gildarts and Roka unconscious already. Natsu nodded and calmed himself. He knew that if wasn't allowed to use any spells that may reach the clearing the guild was in, it would be a slightly more difficult fight.

He was up against an ex-wizard saint, one of the most powerful demons ever to live, and a powerful ice mage, if would have to use one of his more powerful forms if he wanted a guaranteed win. He adjusted his stance again, all three attacks were about to hit him, he wouldn't have time to dodge.

Natsu simply sent a blast of lightning covered in white flame, his attack hit all three of the others and completely obliterated them. Mira, Jellal and Gray looked at him shocked, until they all sent him a powerful chain of attacks. _Flame form of the Fire Dragon! _

His flames started burning hotter than ever, covering his body from head to toe with flames that turned anything to cinders at touch. The flames kept on getting hotter, and growing. Eventually, Natsu had shaped the solid flames in the shape of a dragon, with Natsu in its chest.

The dragon **(A/N Just calling it this, it is still only fire, not a real dragon) **reared on its hind legs, letting out a tremendous roar. It looked at the three terrified mages, Mira, Jellal and Gray, and lifted its claw. The Dragon took the claw back over its shoulder, flames gathering around it.

It slashed, bringing a mighty blast of fire down onto the three S-class mages, knocking them out instantly and sending them flying into a wall. Natsu's flames began to disappear, setting him back down of the ground gently. He walked over to the wall and pulled the three unconscious figures from the earth.

He dragged them into the center of the now charred clearing, where he saw Lucy doing the same thing. They got a second of eye contact before they both said, "That was easier than I thought." They left the five bodies there and continued down the tunnel, not knowing that they had just made half the guild faint in shock as to how powerful they had become.

When they reached the end of the tunnel, they saw the other participants except for Freed, Bixlow, Alzack and Bisca sitting around a makeshift campfire. "Lu-chan!" squealed Levy as she ran towards her friend and gushed out what had happened. The teams sat down and talked about what had happened, Lucy and Natsu keeping quiet.

"Juvia and Lyon got a quiet pass, mostly." Juvia started off the conversation. "Lyon and Juvia felt this massive magical presence and heat." Lyon continued.

"Really?" Ultear questioned, "Same with us!" Lisanna continued.

"Us too!" confirmed Romeo.

"I thought it was only us." said Evergreen. "Man!" shouted Elfman. Everyone expected Evergreen to hit him, but to everyone's surprise, her gaze softened, and she let it go. Evergreen noticed everyone staring at her strangely, "What?" she snapped.

"N-Nothing." stuttered Levy. "Whew! We're finally here!" Tokaji said while dragging his bruised body into the circle of mages.

Meredy sat herself down next to him and continued, "We had to fight Gajeel, we would have lost, but he let us pass after testing us." Levy frowned, "Gajeel told me that himself, Roka, Erza, Cana, Mirajane, Jellal, Gildarts, and Gray would be fighting. You two fought Gajeel, Cana fought Freed and Bixlow, and Alzack and Bisca fought Erza. Lyon, Juvia, myself, Romeo, Evergreen, Elfman, Lucy and Natsu didn't fight, so what happened to Roka, Mirajane, Jellal, Gildarts and Gray?"

"Hey! Who said we didn't fight!" shouted Natsu indignantly. Levy stuttered, "We-well you- neither of you look ruffed up at all! And you both passed, so who did you fight out of those five?"

Natsu looked at her suspiciously, and opened his mouth but Lucy, who was sitting in his lap, beat him to it. "All five." she said calmly. "B-but Gildarts a-a-a-and Jellal were there!" Levy spluttered in surprise.

"Ya." said Natsu, "Lucy took on Gildarts and Roka, while I took down Gray, Mirajane and Jellal." The group fainted. Natsu and Lucy looked at each other, and sighed. Lucy stood up out of Natsu's lap, and thought _Open, gate of the horse, Pegasus. _

The large, winged horse appeared. Lucy and Natsu loaded the 10 limp forms onto the horses spread wings, and started trudging back to the clearing. Once they arrived, they found more limp forms awaiting them.

Lucy face palmed and lead Pegasus over Laxus. "Yo, Laxus!" Natsu greeted him. Laxus didn't reply he just stared blankly into the distance. Lucy sighed again, and told Pegasus to place the 10 participants on the ground.

**A little while later, after people had regained consciousness and had stopped questioning Natsu and Lucy.**

"Listen up everyone!" commanded Laxus. "The next and final event will be a test of strength. You will be fighting high class monsters with a time limit. Gramps, Mavis and I will be the judges so if you do well enough, you will immediately become S-class!"

This news was met with cheers from the participants. "First up!" Laxus continued. "Levy and Romeo!" Two said mages stepped up and hurriedly approached Laxus. Laxus teleported himself, Makarov, Mavis, Levy and Romeo to a clearing a fair distance away. The heads of the remaining people in the clearing turned towards the Lacrimas surrounding them.

**With Levy, Romeo, Laxus, Makarov and Mavis**

***Zap* **Levy and Romeo collapsed onto the ground; the other three mages remained standing. Laxus strode to the center of the clearing, and lifted his hand into the air. Another crack of thunder echoed around the forest, and a 10 meter large, red, over-eyed, hairless spider. Levy squeaked in fear, while Romeo took a shaky step forwards.

The spider snapped it's eyes towards the two mages, then sent a blindly fast stream of red cobwebs at them. "Shield!" shouted Levy, slashing her hand. A large metal shield appeared, situating itself in the path of the strike. The red cobwebs hit the shield, and went straight though it! The shield fell apart, having been melted through by the attack.

Levy's eyes widened in surprise. Before the two mages could do anything other than raise their arms to cover their faces, the attack hit them. They were tossed backwards, the web wrapping them up and burning their skin.

"No." Romeo growled as the spider leapt forwards to attack again. "Magmatic Explosion!" he yelled. Nothing happened, then a resounding bang and a small shockwave knocked over a few smaller trees. Lava exploded out of Romeo, incinerating the webs covering himself and Levy, not harming either of them.

Once they were free, Levy slashed her hand again. "Iron, Fire, Ice, Rock." The four words turned into physical objects of their type and either fell or sped towards the spider.

The attacks hit the spider just before it reached the two mages, knocking it back. "Volcanic Steam!" shouted Romeo, holding his hands out. A stream of molten rock flew out of his hands, hitting the spider, sending it further back. It clicked it's large pincers in pain, its body being burned and scorched mercilessly.

"Fire!" yelled Levy bringing her hands down from behind her head, while Romeo raised his hands like he was lifting a bar and shouted, "Erupt!" The fire from Levy's spell came from the sides of the spider, while the earth beneath it melted and burst out of the ground.

The spider disappeared into ashes along with the attacks. Romeo dropped to the ground, utterly spent. Levy was in slightly better condition, but was still struggling to stand. Laxus strode into the clearing, "Well done you two." Romeo and Levy smiled weakly.

Laxus swiped his hands over the two of them, and teleported them back to the rest of the guild. When they appeared, they, more so Romeo than Levy, were immediately fussed over by Wendy. Laxus called out the names of the next group.

"Ultear and Lisanna." The two girls stepped forwards and were teleported with Laxus back to the clearing. Ultear managed to keep her balance, but Lisanna fell over backwards. Ultear helped Lisanna up as she rubbed her backside ruefully.

Laxus walked into the center of the clearing and help his hand out. His extended hand glowed, and a small, blue wyvern appeared. Ultear immediately went into action, shouting "Flash Forwards!" A multitude of crystal balls flew towards the wyvern.

Said creature just glanced at the attack, and waved a wing. A large gust of magic wind swept through the clearing, knocking away the attack without effort. Lisanna joined the fight by shouting, "Take-over! Tigress!" she zipped towards the creature at high speeds.

"Take-over! Phoenix!" She gained large golden wings of fire, a sharp beak and claws and a heavily feathered crimson tail. Laxus raised an eyebrow at her new take-over. Lisanna flew around the wyvern at eye-blinding speeds, constantly scratching and pecking it.

The wyvern shrugged of the attacks, its scales protecting the creature from any major damage. The wyvern drew its blue head back, and then roared. It was more of a shriek, but a ferocious sound never the less. Ultear and Lisanna reeled back from the high sound.

Massive winds rushed through the clearing, lifting the two mages off their feet. Lisanna used her wings to regain balance and caught Ultear, lowering both of them to the ground. "Luminous Minutes!" shouted Ultear, large flashed of light pierced the wyvern. "Ice-make, Rose Garden!" she continued, making a chain of vines attack the wyvern right behind the flashed of light.

"Take-over! Unicorn!" Lisanna charged the wyvern, using her horn to pierce its thick scales. The wyvern shrieked and shock Lisanna out of its side. Once it had shaken off the take-over mage, Ultear's first attack hit it's wound, opening it more.

Ultear's ice attack hit the open flesh of the creature, freezing it solid and making the wyvern whimper in pain. Ultear prepared another attack, but Lisanna shouted "Wait! I want to try something!" Ultear looked at her questioningly.

Lisanna didn't respond, just yelled, "Take-over! Tigress!" she changed into her tiger form and zipped up to the staggering wyvern. She stopped her take over and placed her human hand onto the head of the wyvern. "Take-over!" she shouted and a glow enveloped Lisanna and the wyvern.

Ultear looked impressed and when the golden light disappeared, only Lisanna stood there. "I did it!" fist pumped Lisanna. Laxus strolled into, acting like nothing had happened. He raised a hand yet again, and teleported all of them back to the rest of the guild.

Lisanna was immediately pulled into a fierce hug by a worried older brother and sister. "Lisanna!" chided Mira, "You shouldn't have done that to such a powerful monster. That was too dangerous!" Lisanna just grinned manically.

Bixlow strolled over with his tongue lolling out, "Nice!" he complimented, his dolls repeating him. Gray pulled Ultear into a quick hug. Laxus wasted no time and called out the next participants. "Juvia and Lyon!" The soon-to-be married couple stepped forwards and Laxus repeated the procedure.

Once Lyon and Juvia were in the clearing, a strike of lightning lit the area. Juvia and Lyon saw their monster, a 10 meter tall plant **(A/N It looks like a Venus Fly Trap) **made of ice.

Lyon smirked, "Ice-make infinity, eagle swarm!" Thousands of ice eagles appeared in the sky and plummeted towards the icy-plant. A colossal explosion rocked the forest as the attack hit. Lyon's smirk widened, and then he grabbed Juvia's hand and went down onto one knee, "Our love made us win."

Juvia nodded happily. The two mages were bulldozed by a wall of ice, knocking them both back into the trees. Not wasting any time, they jumped back in to face the ice plant. To Lyon's shock, the plant had no signs of damage from the earlier attack. _"Petty ice like yours cannot harm me." _A voice went through Lyon and Juvia's heads.

_"Telepathy?" _They thought. _"Indeed." _One of the plant's leafs swept across, and a torrent of ice attacked the two mages. Lyon stood firm, the ice not affecting him while Juvia went into her water form. "Water Nebula!" shouted Juvia, the powerful attack of water crashed into the plant, flooding the clearing half a meter deep. Then, quite simply, the water disappeared.

"Huh?" Juvia wondered questioningly. Lyon looked just as confused until he saw their opponent. The plant had grown from 10 meters to over 30! Lyon gasped at the pure size and magic the plant was leaking. Juvia just gazed at it in a daze. Lyon got over his initial shock and his eyes turned hard. "Juvia, Unison Raid."

They clasped hands and shouted, "Icy Storm!" A torrent of water covered bullets of ice cascaded down on the plant, making it shriek telepathically in pain. The plant grew and grew, until it was over 80 meters tall. Lyon and Juvia kept the attack going.

Soon the plant was overloaded with water, and exploded into freezing droplets. Laxus entered the soaked clearing and nodded simply. He raised a hand, zapped the clearing dry, then teleported all three of them back to the rest of the guild.

He wasted no time in calling out, "Elfman and Evergreen." The two stepped forwards and as quickly as Laxus appeared, they disappeared, leaving the rest of the guild to congratulate Juvia and Lyon.

***Zap* **Elfman thudded to the ground while Evergreen caught herself with her wings. Laxus kept his balance calmly and strutted into the center of the clearing.

***Zap*** A burst of light flashed the clearing. When it disappeared, Laxus strode away, leaving Elfman and Evergreen to look for the enemy. Suddenly, Elfman was lifted off the ground and thrown into a tree. Evergreen received the same treatment.

They quickly recovered and Evergreen launched into the air. Elfman roared, "Take-over, Chimera soul!" His body flashed gold and his arms changed into forelegs, while his knees bent backwards. Once on all fours, his haired changed to a mane, he grew a snake for a tail, his nails turned into claws, his ears to horns, his teeth to fangs and his face took on more of a lion look.

His take-over was about 2 meters tall and 5 meters wide. Once his transformation was completed, he lifted his head high into the air and roared. The trees around him lost a few of their leaves from the force of the roar and the grass rippled.

Suddenly, a tree at the opposite end of the clearing to Elfman fell over. Evergreen looked at it confusedly. There was a small streak of light that flew up into the air towards Evergreen. The attack hit her and sent her flying higher into the air.

She caught herself just as Elfman was thrown around the clearing. "Where is it?" shouted Elfman, frustrated. "Fairy Machine Gun! Leprechaun." The large wall of small light bullets flew towards the ground, covering everywhere except where Elfman was standing.

There was no sign of the enemy taking any hits. Then something in Evergreen's brain clicked, and she screamed, "Elfman! Punch the ground now!" Elfman didn't question his order, he just raised his paw and snake-tail and slammed them into the ground with tremendous force.

A crater slightly larger than his body formed underneath him about 1 meter deep. He fell down in the hole he had just created. He and Evergreen looked around to see if they could find their opponent. Laxus strode into the clearing, looking impressed.

"I didn't think you guys could do it after that start." When the two mages gave him a confused look, he pointed to the side of the crater Elfman had formed. Squashed into the earth was a miniature, green ant.

Elfman looked even more confused as he climbed out of the hole, while a look of understanding passed over Evergreen's face. "So that's why we couldn't see it!" she exclaimed. Laxus nodded and teleported them all back to the guild.

Once when Laxus called out "Tokaji and Meredy!" did he understand what his opponent had been. He bowed his head in shame as Tokaji and Meredy disappeared, muttering "Fighting an ant is not manly."

***Zap* **Meredy and Tokaji stumbled and fell on each other. Their heads collided and they lip-locked. Laxus chuckled, "Now is not the time you Lovebirds." The couple separated spluttering.

Laxus didn't listen, just summoned their opponent and walked out of the clearing. The monster they were faced with was a solid tower of obsidian. Tokaji ready himself to attack, then hesitated remembering Gajeel's words of advice.

The pillar did nothing, just stood there. The two mages started eyeing it cautiously, circling it slowly. Tokaji circled to the left while Meredy went right. When they met up at the opposite side of the pillar, it suddenly went sideways and rocketed towards them.

Jumping apart and only just dodging the attack, they landed sprawled and off-balance. They searched frantically for the obsidian when it came speeding towards them from the sky.

Tokaji activated his Heavenly Body magic "Meteor." and grabbed Meredy before speeding out of the range of the attack. The obsidian hit the ground and a large dust cloud rose. Tokaji shouted, "Heavenly Blast!" while Meredy yelled, "Maguilty Sodom!" The two attacks combined to make a ray of light surrounded with white, ghostly swords.

The powerful attack split the center of the dust and slammed into the pillar, knocking it over. The two young mages high-fived and grinned. They looked around for Laxus, but he didn't come into view. They glanced at each other questioningly.

***Thud*** The low thump vibrated through the clearing, making Tokaji and Meredy's teeth chatter. The pillar of obsidian stood tall as the dust cleared, it seemed completely unharmed. The two mages were shocked. Tokaji was about to attack again, when Meredy yelled, "Tokaji! I have an idea, distract it for a while!"

"Ok!" Tokaji replied while activating "Meteor." Tokaji zipped around the pillar, making it throw itself all around the clearing. Meredy stood with her arms spread, chanting a spell. A pink glow surrounded her, Tokaji, and hundreds of trees.

A red band appeared on Tokaji's wrist as well as around the trunks of the trees. Tokaji felt power flowing into him from the trees, Meredy was taking all the Etherano that the trees held and was channeling it into Tokaji. He felt his magic power increase dramatically and his speed increase ten-fold.

"Grand Chariot!" Tokaji shouted. Seven magic circles appeared in the sky, sending massively powerful attacks into the pillar. The powerful spell plus the significant boost caused the entire forest to vibrate as it shattered the obsidian into millions of pieces.

Tokaji fell to the ground from the loss of magic, skidding into Meredy who had just sat down hard. Laxus walked in, nodded, and teleported them back.

Once the appeared, Laxus immediately called, "Natsu and Lucy!" After saying goodbye to their daughter, the two mages walked up to Laxus, who teleported all three of them into the clearing where they would fight.


End file.
